Napoli – Real Madrid: No Nosediving From Napoli (2-3)

This clash would have been one of the most compelling the Champions League could offer only a few months ago. However, the new campaign has already brought challenges to the door of both camps. All the same, enough of their strengths have remained in tact to produce the goods.
Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

Napoli have enjoyed a year in which the Scudetto returned to south Italy for the first time in 33 years while reaching the last eight of the Champions League for the first time in their history. Kim Min-jae has since gone to Germany, but Luciano Spalletti was the most painful summer exit. The champions have already dropped as many points in Serie A as they did between August and March last season.

Real Madrid have strung together a sterner set of results, winning seven from eight LaLiga outings to sit first in the table. Yet, these successes have not fully masked blows to the squad. Jude Bellingham can only do so much to counteract the loss of talismanic Karim Benzema. And in the defense, frailties without Thibaut Courtois and Éder Militão could have been even more costly in the last fortnight.

Carlo Ancelotti has doubled down . . .