Preview: Naples next stop on European tour | OneFootball

Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt are level on points in the league phase. The Italian champions are higher up in their domestic table, but will be without a number of senior players.

Backdrop

It is Matchday 4 in the UEFA Champions League, and SSC Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt will have reached the halfway point of the league phase after they cross swords on Tuesday evening. The meeting between the defending Serie A champions and last season’s third-placed finishers in the Bundesliga kicks off at 18:45 CET at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. After Galatasaray from Turkey and Liverpool from England, it is the third time that the Eagles are facing national champions in this campaign.

Napoli, like Eintracht, drew at the weekend, being held 0-0 at home by Como. In any case, neither side can afford to drop many more points in Europe after one win and two losses so far. In terms of the table at least, it will be a meeting of equals in southern Italy between 23rd and 22nd. As a reminder: the top 24 of the 36 teams progress to the knockout stage.

Looking back

It was in the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition that Napoli and Frankfurt last met. The Italians got the better of the then Champions League debutants in spring 2023, winning 5-0 on aggregate. From the starting line-ups in the second leg, only Aurélio Buta, Ansgar Knauff and Mario Götze remain in the current Eagles squad. There are twice as many survivors for the hosts, namely Alex Meret, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Stanislav Lobotka, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano.

Key duo missing

Napoli are without first-choice goalkeeper Meret, who is sidelined with a long-term injury, as well as powerhouse striker Romelu Lukaku. The experienced pair were instrumental in last season’s title win, with Meret keeping a clean sheet in 17 out of 34 league games and the Belgium striker registering 14 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances.

British influence on the Gulf of Naples

Lukaku returned to Italy from Chelsea in summer 2024 and is among the growing crop of Premier League-proven quality in the Azzurri’s squad, including head coach Antonio Conte, who faced Frankfurt with Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League group stage in 2022.

Scott McTominay in 2024 and Rasmus Højlund in 2025 both joined from Manchester United. McTominay is joined in central midfield by another Scot in Billy Gilmour, who came from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2024. On top of that, the marquee signing of this summer Kevin De Bruyne joined from Manchester City, although the 34-year-old is out of action for the time being.

Injuries to playmakers

Both clubs will therefore be missing one of their creative talents for this match. De Bruyne sustained a thigh injury against Inter Milan last week taking a penalty, while for Eintracht, Can Uzun is also out with a muscular injury, which the 19-year-old picked up at Heidenheim on Saturday. Head coach Dino Toppmöller described it as “a huge blow because he’s a player who has a big influence on our attacking play, can play the final ball and score goals” at the post-match press conference, before the final diagnosis was confirmed.

It has been well known for weeks that Eintracht will have to manage without the support of their fans in Naples, as was the case in 2023. “We’ve spoken about it and voiced our opinion on it enough,” summarised board member for sport Markus Krösche. “Sadly we can’t change it, we have to see to it that we just put in a good performance on the pitch and come home with three points.”