Napoli vs Barcelona Predictions

• Barcelona are on a run of 10 games unbeaten in league and Europe, with their only losses since early December coming in the Spanish cup competitions.
• Napoli have only won one of their last six home matches in all competitions, losing three.
• Napoli could also have a number of injury worries ahead of the match, and are involved in a tense Serie A title race.

Napoli could struggle in clash with Catalan giants

Courtesy of a strong start to 2022 and Inter’s poor run of form, Napoli find themselves well and truly in the Italian title race, although a late 1-1 draw with Cagliari saw them miss the opportunity to go top of Serie A on Monday. Napoli also claimed a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou last week, but they may struggle to finish the job against Xavi’s in-form Blaugrana this time around.

Despite their six-game unbeaten run, Luciano Spalletti’s team have struggled in Naples recently; losing three of their last six at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and going down in extra-time on another occasion. One win in six home matches does not exactly bode well for I Partenopei, and nor do their injury problems, which appear to have resurfaced in recent weeks. Hirving Lozano, Matteo Politano, Lorenzo Insigne, and Andre Zambo Anguissa are all likely to be missing for this heavyweight clash.

Barcelona, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 10 outings in league and Europe, thrashing Valencia 4-1 at the weekend, courtesy of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang treble. Barcelona were arguably unfortunate not to establish a first-leg lead at Camp Nou, managing 20 shots to Napoli’s four and monopolising possession (managing 67% of the play), as Xavi slowly begins to re-establish the club’s mythical tika-taka style.

Back in-form visitors to progress, as Xavi revolution continues

Alongside their injury worries, the fact that Napoli are involved in an intense three-horse title race, and that they played over 24 hours later than Barcelona last weekend, could serve to work against the hosts here.

If not for the profligacy of Ferran Torres, the Catalan giants could have finished this tie on home soil, and we’re backing them to go one better this time around in a competition which, bizarrely, probably means more to them than to Napoli this season, with a top four finish in La Liga far from certain.

Both teams have scored in each of Barca’s last four outings, however, so a 2-1 away win could be a decent correct score prediction.