Nice v Napoli: play-off contribution and stats
Trailing 2-0 from a initial leg, OGC Nice will need to say their excellent European home record if they are to stop SSC Napoli from reaching a UEFA Champions League organisation stage.
Previous meetings
• Dries Mertens non-stop a scoring in Naples, with Jorginho adding a chastisement 20 mins from time.
• The clubs met in pre-season friendlies in 2015 and 2016, with Nice winning 3-2 during home and Napoli prevalent 3-0 during a Stadio San Paolo 12 months later.
• Prior to a initial leg, Nice had never met Serie A antithesis in UEFA competition.
• Napoli’s record in 9 matches opposite French teams in UEFA foe is: W5 D2 L2.
• The Italian side’s knockout record in UEFA foe opposite Ligue 1 clubs is W1 L2, with all 3 prior ties entrance in a UEFA Cup; they kick FC Girondins Bordeaux 1-0 on total in a 1988/89 third turn though mislaid on penalties to Toulouse FC in a initial turn in 1986/87 and were separated by Paris Saint-Germain FC 2-0 over dual legs in a 1992/93 second round.
Match background
• Nice’s home record in UEFA bar foe is W15 D4 L3.
• By contrast, a French bar have won usually one of their 21 divided games in UEFA competition.
• Nice suspended AFC Ajax on divided goals in a third subordinate round, going by after a 1-1 home pull and a 2-2 in Amsterdam.
• This is Nice’s initial UEFA Champions League campaign, and usually their third in a European Cup overall. Their final before this came in 1959/60, when they got to a quarter-finals, as they had on their entrance in 1956/57 – both campaigns were finished by contingent winners Real Madrid CF.
• In 2016/17, Nice finished fourth in their UEFA Europa League organisation – a initial time they had participated in that theatre of a competition.
• Napoli are seeking to strech a organisation theatre for a fourth time, after their campaigns in 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2016/17.
• The Serie A outfit have usually mislaid twice in 8 European divided games given a start of 2015/16 (W5 D1 L2). Their home record in their final 22 European fixtures is even some-more impressive: W14 D6 L2.
• One of those defeats came in final season’s turn of 16, when a Partenopei mislaid 3-1 in both legs to contingent champions Real Madrid.
• The Italian outfit mislaid their usually prior play-off tie, opposite Athletic Club in 2014/15.
Team and manager links
• Mario Balotelli, harmed for a initial leg, has faced Napoli 6 times in his career (D1 L5). He scored opposite a Vesuviani for Manchester City FC during a 2011/12 UEFA Champions League organisation theatre and for AC Milan in a 2-1 home better in Sep 2013.
• Pepe Reina saved a Balotelli chastisement in that 2013 fixture. The brazen was afterwards sent off after a final whistle.
• New Nice signing Wesley Sneijder – also absent in Naples – played in Italy for FC Internazionale Milano from Aug 2009 to Jan 2013, winning a UEFA Champions League, a Scudetto and a Coppa Italia in 2010.
• Napoli’s Adam Ounas (Bordeaux), Kalidou Koulibaly (FC Metz) and Faouzi Ghoulam (AS Saint-Étienne) have knowledge of French football.
Coach profiles
• Lucien Favre took assign of Nice in summer 2016, steering them to a third-place finish in Ligue 1. Twice a pretension leader with FC Zürich in his local Switzerland, he done a certain sense in Germany with Hertha BSC Berlin and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach. He was capped 24 times as a midfielder.
• Naples-born Maurizio Sarri transposed Rafael BenÃtez when a Spaniard left Napoli for Madrid during a finish of a 2014/15 campaign. Having spent most of his career in a reduce leagues, Sarri led Empoli FC into Serie A in 2013/14 and kept them adult absolutely before quitting to join Napoli.
Penalty shoot-outs
• Nice have never been concerned in a chastisement shoot-out in UEFA competition.
• Napoli’s record in 3 UEFA chastisement shoot-outs is W1 L2:
3-5 v FC Spartak Moskva, 1990/91 European Champion Clubs’ Cup second round
4-3 v Sporting Clube de Portugal, 1989/90 UEFA Cup initial round
3-4 v Toulouse FC, 1986/87 UEFA Cup initial round