Napoli disappoints in the Champions League and now risks having to suffer to qualify for the playoffs. Only draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, alarm in the standings
It’s not yet the time to despair, but Napoli’s path in the Champions League is getting very complicated and to direct them towards qualification for at least the play-offs a decisive change of pace is needed. The Germans of Eintracht Frankfurt, a team that is going through a terrible period in the Bundesliga, easily snatched a draw from Maradona which complicates the life of Antonio Conte.
Halfway through the first phase, the Neapolitans’ European balance sheet is deficient: only one victory, the one obtained against Sporting Lisbon, the draw against Eintracht Frankfurt and the defeats in Manchester and against PSV Eindhoven. They scored 4 points out of the 12 available and, above all, an average that leads straight to elimination in January. Not that Napoli set out to win the Champions League, but the scenario is well below the group’s possibilities placed in Conte’s hands.
Little quality, little pace and little courage: European Napoli are unable to replicate the qualities that have kept them at the top of the league for more than a year. The significant absences only partially explain the slow progress because, given the teams, they should have been enough also present to go further to PSV and Eintracht Frankfurt. It was and now the ranking presents the bill.
You just need to take a quick look at what Napoli is trending towards in the second half of the first phase to realize that a feat in Lisbon against Benfica or at home against Chelsea will be needed to guarantee passage into the top 24. Taking for granted the successes with Qarabag, presented by Conte as a very strong and super rested opponent, and in Copenhagen, Denmark. To qualify you need 11-12 points and the Neapolitans need at least 8 to be safe.
This is the accounting, then there is the feeling of a team that has not yet found the codes to decode the football needed in the Champions League. And this is a problem for Conte who has a terrible reputation in the most important cup and who cannot afford to add a new misstep to the series of disappointments.
