(Football news) With six points, their hosts are currently in second place in the section and, with another win, may be just a point or two away from securing a spot in the knockout stages.
Even if Rudi Garcia’s time at Napoli hasn’t been perfect—the reigning Serie A champions seem to be turning the turnaround if recent performance is any indication. Other issues include managerial uncertainty, dull on-field performances, and strange TikTok controversies that have surfaced.
Napoli has won three of their past four domestic and continental games, including a 1-0 victory over Union Berlin two weeks ago, all thanks to a single goal from Giacomo Raspadori. This comes after the team suffered back-to-back losses to Real Madrid and Fiorentina at the beginning of October.
Five days later, Garcia’s team earned one point while AC Milan lost two, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to hold the Rossoneri to a 2-2 Serie A draw. The manner of that victory was far from convincing, though, as the German upstarts wasted multiple opportunities to break through the Partenopei defense.
Once again, Raspadori and Eljif Elmas found the back of the net as Napoli defeated Union Berlin 2-0 on Saturday. If Napoli wins this week against Union Berlin, they will move to within one point of a last-16 spot if Real Madrid defeats Braga.
Napoli has never lost back-to-back home games in the Champions League, but they will need to improve on their dismal attacking performance in their opening encounter against Union Berlin, which included just six shots and 0.25 predicted goals, if they hope to make another long run in Europe’s top competition.
Things are getting worse for this week’s visitors, and while Union Berlin may have won their match against the previously dominant Italian champions on any other day, Urs Fischer and company still feel like losers.
After winning three straight games in August and scoring 12 goals in the process, Union Berlin looked like they were off to a great start. However, since then, they have lost an incredible 12 games in a row in all competitions and have failed to score in their past five games.
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