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#2 Napoli
The Italian team is the only one on our list, who came into the competition through the Champions League. In the group stage of the “bigger brother”, they nearly were able to knock out Liverpool, in a group that also had Paris St. Germain and Red Star Belgrade in it. After they dropped out, Napoli were able to beat FC Zürich quite easily, before nearly losing out against RB Salzburg.
Napoli’s biggest strength might be their coach. Carlo Ancelotti is by far the most experienced manager left in the Europa League. His main discipline are European cups, as he already won the Champions League three times.
The Italians not only have the possibly best defender in the competition in Kalidou Koulibaly, but they also have a very fluid and fast attack. Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon and Arkadiusz Milik are all insane players that are able to score against every opponent.
The team’s most important attacker, Insigne, is injured and will probably miss the next round.
Another thing that might hinder them in the competition is, that they seem to fall apart when it matters the most. Against their biggest opponent: Juventus, the team mostly loses and plays below their usual level. In the cup, where they dropped out against AC Milan, the squad’s performance was possibly the worst one of their season so far. Their last game in the Europa League, as Salzburg dominated them, also seems like a bad sign for upcoming games in this tournament.
