On April 18, Diego Armando Maradona Stadium (San Paolo) (Naples) will host the second leg of the 1/4 finals of the Champions League, in which Napoli will compete with Milan. The battle will start at 21:00 CET.
Napoli
The team has almost got the championship status in native Italy. And the huge gap that has been formed between it and the pursuers (if it is possible to evaluate the situation with such a characteristic as the “race” in the Calcio) involuntarily relaxes. The higher mentioned state of things resulted in several painful defeats in Naples – there were misfires in the matches against Lazio and Milan, the relegation from the Coppa Italia made by modest Cremonese. Still, everything is more than compensated by the Scudetto that is really anticipated. At the same time, Spalletti found motivation for the Champions League without any problems. And his wards, who finally returned to the tournament, went through the group stage “in one breath” (there was only one defeat in Liverpool that happened in the very end of that stage). The destiny of the struggle with Eintracht was decided, despite Khvicha’s miss, already in the first half. The previous match was not good. Nevertheless, a 0-1 score leaves chances for the final success.
Milan
The club is forced to literally tear itself apart – after all, a result is needed both at the inner arena and at the international one. Speaking about the Serie A, “the Rossoneri” clearly sank, not only losing the Scudetto, but also not showing the level of the previous seasons, which were under the rule of Spalletti. On the other hand, the penalty given to Juventus and the instability of the competitors leave “the Red and Blacks” among the contenders for a place no lower than the 4th one – the main thing is to make fewer misfires at the finish line. It goes without saying that such conditions make the team not save strength for the Champions League. To be honest, the team added in the game there. If in the previous cycle everything ended at the group stage, this time the team has already overcome Tottenham, which has been knocked out in the 1/8 finals due to the only goal of Brahim Díaz. Nowadays, taking into account the stage, the scenario is half repeated.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
This is the third battle of the opponents during the current month. On April 2, Milan sensationally won with a 4-0 score in the Serie A.
Predictions
Bookmakers believe that the hosts can take revenge. Milan will think about the defence in the following battle, and this can play a cruel joke with it. Thus, we bet on the victory of the hosts (odd: 1.8).