Rijeka vs Napoli Match Preview

Rijeka is ranked at the 4th place in the group with 0 points as they have lost both games so far. They started with a home loss 0-1 against Real Sociedad and later fell 4-1 on the road against AZ Alkmaar. It was kind of expected for them to have this performance as they are the weakest team in this group.

I see no real hopes for them for trying to advance to the next stage and for this duel they are also hit by coronavirus issues. Their coach said that he still has no idea which players he will be able to throw in the starting line up and he might even have to call players from the U21 team.

Napoli, on the other side, is ranked at the second spot with three points and comes after a loss and a win so far. They started the campaign with an unexpected loss at home against AZ Alkmaar, a team that had also many absences because of coronavirus issues. But after that, they went and won on the road against Real Sociedad to show they mean business and want to advance to the next stage.

They are way better than their rivals here and I expect Gattuso to choose a strong lineup because he can not tolerate any more false steps. With Mertens backed up by Politano and Insigne I expect them to score a couple of goals here.

In conclusion, I think Napoli can win this match and cover -1 goals of the Asian handicap. They have the quality needed to win here and also are fully motivated because they could grab the first spot depending on how the other game in the group ends. Rijeka will be too weak to contrast them as we saw that even in their domestic league, where against a rival like Sibenik they lost 2-0 three days ago.