The last 16 round of the Champions League is confirmed to be over today where the last 2 matches presented are the matches between Real Madrid vs Liverpool and Napoli vs Eintracht Frankfurt. The Real Madrid vs Liverpool match ended 6-2 on aggregate with Liverpool losing in 2 matches against Madrid with a score of 2-5 and 1-0 respectively.
The other match was Napoli, who got rid of Frankfurt very convincingly, with a 5-0 aggregate where they were able to win 3-0 at home and 2-0 against Frankfurt headquarters. Of the 8 teams that qualified for the quarter-finals, there are several that deserve appreciation, namely Chelsea, who was able to get rid of various prejudices and qualify by getting rid of Dortmund, who was on fire.
The other teams are AC Milan and Inter Milan who beat Tottenham and Porto respectively. Not only that, Benfica’s name also deserves appreciation because they are still showing their on fire performance. However, of all these teams, there is one that should be appreciated and watched out for by traditional teams such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, namely Napoli, which is currently on fire.
Napoli have been able to show their strength in the Serie A competition this season with total domination where at this time they are able to be at the top of the standings 18 POINTS (!!) from 2nd place, Inter Milan. This point difference is the biggest difference among Europe’s top 5 leagues this season.
Not only is the difference in points, the number of goals they have scored far outperforms the other teams. Napoli have collected 60 goals in Serie A, half of which have been contributed by their 2 main forwards namely Victor Osimhen and Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia with 19 and 11 goals.
Not only excelling in local competition, Napoli was also able to show its fangs in European competition. Napoli was able to crush the traditional UEFA Champions League teams who were joined in Group A, namely Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers.
On his way, Napoli also successfully slaughtered Liverpool 4-1 when they appeared at the San Paolo. Amazingly, Napoli have been able to score a total of 20 goals in the group phase which makes them the most productive team among the 32 teams competing in the UEFA Champions League group phase.
Even in the round of 16, they were able to finish off last season’s UEFA Europa League champions, Eintracht Frankfurt without conceding a single goal. This result brought Napoli through convincingly to the last 8.
In the draw for the top 8 there are no longer any boundaries between seeded or countrymen so that anyone can face each other depending on the draw. Napoli could have met traditional Champions League teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
They can also meet their compatriots, namely the duo Milan, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Not only that, they can also meet other hot teams, namely Manchester City and Benfica.
Napoli currently have a very sadistic front line in the form of the duo Victor Osimhen and Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia. However, the names of other players cannot be underestimated, such as Giovanni Simeone and Giacomo Raspadori, who have also scored 4 goals in the Champions League.
Not only the front line, Napoli’s back line is quite solid with goalkeeper Alex Meret who is guarded by tough defenders in Kim Min-jae, Amir Rrahmani, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui. The midfield, which was filled with Stanislav Lobotka, Frank Anguissa, Piotr Zielinski, and Eljif Elmas, was also able to become a player who provided a sense of security in the Napoli midfield.
Whichever opponent Napoli will face, these opponents certainly cannot look down on Napoli because currently Napoli is transforming into one of the most dangerous teams in Europe which is not only prolific in scoring goals but also difficult to score against.
ASL
