Napoli vs Barcelona Prediction & Betting Tips - Europa League

Prediction published on 20/02/2022, 21:30  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 20/02/2022 at 22:30 in Europa League Prediction

Barcelona will head into their return leg against Napoli in the knockout round of the Europa League with confidence after their weekend thrashing of Villarreal in La Liga. They will also have the advantage of an extra day’s rest, with Napoli playing on Monday, ahead this Thursday fixture. The tie is balanced at 1-1 going into the return leg, with Barcelona having rallied to level in the first leg clash. Hosts Napoli haven’t had a great run at home; their unstable performances there, see them head to this clash with four wins and four losses in the last 10 matches. They are unbeaten in the last two home matches though, the most recent being a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan. While they’ve been inconsistent at home, Napoli have only failed to score two times in their last 10 home matches. Both sides have scored in six of the 10 home matches. In the Europa League, both sides have scored in Napoli’s last four matches and they have three wins in five. They’ve scored two or more goals in the last four home matches in Europa League.

Barcelona handed Valencia a 4-1 thrashing away from home to give a perfect warm up for this game. This will without doubt be a tougher game, but the Catalans with head to Italy confident after their fifth straight unbeaten outing. It will also come as a big bonus that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got to the score sheet for the first time, netting a hat trick in the mauling of Valencia. Barcelona could however not keep a clean sheet, for the fourth straight time, and this will be one of the areas they’ll want to improve on, now that the attack is working well. Both teams have scored in Barcelona’s last four matches and Barcelona have scored in each of their last 13 matches. Away from home, Barcelona are also unbeaten in their last three matches, and they’ve scored two or more goals in three of the last four away matches. However, they have just one clean sheet in five away matches.