Yesterday saw Napoli play host to Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich, in their third game of the Champions League. Thrown into a tough group, Napoli, up to this point, have answered the call with success. They not only were undefeated in the Champions League, with one win and one tie, they also had performed well in Serie A with some big wins against the Milan teams. Coming into this season there were doubts about whether Napoli could handle the pressure of playing in the Champions League and stay competitive in Italy. Napoli are a great team to get behind. They have an extremely loyal fan base, that packs their stadium every weekend and they play a very entertaining brand of football. Success in Europe would not only be great for the city of Naples but also for the country and the sport. Up until this week, there was little doubt about Napoli's chances to compete both domestically and internationally. However this Tuesday has shown that maybe Napoli aren't as ready for the challenge as previous expected.
This past Saturday, Napoli played host to Parma in a game that most Napoli faithful probably expected to win easily. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as a better team lost to an ever persistant Parma 2-1 on a late winner. Score-lines don't always reflect a game as Napoli had dominated possesion and outshot Parma. Napoli fans will certainly look at this game and think how did we not win, but the same will be said from the Munich fans who watched Tuesday's match at the San Paolo. Napoli were very fortunate to walk away with a point in a game that saw them get completely dominated. Napoli were out possessed and completely out shot, only registering 3 shots. The one goal they did score was an own goal on Munich defender Holger Badstuber. Napoli were lucky to hold on when goalkeeper, turned savior,Morgan De Sanctis came up with a massive save against a Mario Gomez pk. Fortunately for Napoli the whistle blew and the teams were all squared, unfortunately, poor defending allowed Manchester City to get all three points from Villarreal, meaning Napoli have only one more point over the Citizens.
Looking at these two results, the question should be asked, are Napoli on the decline? Ok, probably not. For any team that is playing in the Champions League for the first time in a long time, the adjustments are going to be hard. Napoli are trying to perform in both leagues and being drawn into group A doesn't allow them any rest. It would be different if Tuesday saw them play host to Apoel Nicosia (I don't mean to hate on the Cyprus FA, but lets be real) then they would probably play a little differently but instead they face teams that are full of some of the brightest talent in Europe. Furthermore, Munich are the best team in that group. I know about all the talk coming out of Manchester and they are a very talented team who I predicted to be serious competitors in both the EPL and Champions League, but people forgot about Munich early on. This is a team that is two years removed from the final in Madrid and who have consistently made it out of the group stage almost every time they are in the tournament. Napoli may not be as ready for the big games as was previously expected. If one thing this week alluded to, was that Napoli still have some flaws and aren't quite ready to be compared to the elites. Going further, they must find a way to better balance their players to give themselves the best shot at winning.
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