Complete failure. Napoli become first Italian champions in 12 years to be knocked out at Champions League group stage
Tough times for Napoli.
Details: After yesterday's defeat to London's Chelsea in the 8th round of the Champions League, it became clear that Napoli failed to qualify for the Champions League playoffs, finishing as low as 30th place in the group stage.
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Napoli are the reigning Italian champions, which makes this result even more humiliating. The last time the Scudetto holders failed to make it out of the Champions League group stage was in the 2013/14 season, and that team was Juventus from Turin. Back then, the "Bianconeri" finished third in a group with Real Madrid, Galatasaray, and Copenhagen.
Remarkably, Juventus were then managed by Napoli's current coach — Antonio Conte.
In this season's Champions League campaign, Napoli managed to win only 2 out of 8 matches, which wasn't enough even to grab a playoff spot.
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Kenley Ward
Dailysports's expert