Napoli vs Frankfurt facts

Napoli's first away victory in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds has put them in sight of the quarter-finals for the first time as Eintracht Frankfurt come to southern Italy facing a 2-0 deficit.

Despite Kevin Trapp saving Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's penalty with the score at 0-0, Napoli took a firm grip of the tie thanks to a goal in each half from Victor Osimhen (40) and – after Randal Kolo Muani's 58th-minute dismissal for Frankfurt – captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo (65) to take a significant step towards a first European Cup quarter-final in their tenth appearance in the competition.

Napoli reached the round of 16 for the first time in three seasons as Group A winners, only being denied a perfect record of six victories from six by a Matchday 6 defeat, while debutants Frankfurt lost out to Tottenham Hotspur for first place in Group D in the last seconds of a dramatic final set of games.

While Frankfurt are one of two teams to be making their round of 16 debut in 2022/23, along with Club Brugge, Napoli are featuring for the fourth time – although they have never progressed any further.

This is Napoli's 50th match in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final. They have won 24 of the previous 49.

Previous meetings

The teams' only past fixtures before this tie came in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup third round, Eintracht winning both legs 1-0. Renato Buso's 55th-minute own goal settled the first leg in Frankfurt in the home side's favour before Ralf Falkenmayer's 54th-minute effort sealed victory for the visitors in Naples.

Frankfurt went on to lose 4-1 on aggregate against another Italian side, Juventus, in the quarter-finals (1-1 h, 0-3 a).

Form guide

Napoli

Napoli are in the UEFA Champions League proper for the first time in three seasons and the seventh overall – all since 2011/12. In the most recent of their six previous campaigns, in 2019/20, they remained unbeaten in Group E (W3 D3) to finish second behind Liverpool on 12 points, bowing out against Barcelona in the round of 16 (1-1 h, 1-3 a).

This season, the Italian side kicked off with an impressive 4-1 win at home to the 2021/22 runners-up Liverpool before two wins against both Rangers (3-0 a, 3-0 h) and Ajax (6-1 a, 4-2 h). A 2-0 defeat on Merseyside on Matchday 6 ended Napoli's 11-game unbeaten run in UEFA Champions League group games (W8 D3) but was not enough to prevent them finishing top of Group A after they had ended level with Liverpool on 15 points.

That loss at Anfield is one of only three in Napoli's last 21 UEFA Champions League fixtures (W11 D7).

Four of the Partenopei's seven UEFA Champions League campaigns have now extended into the round of 16, although they are yet to progress further. Only once previously have they topped the group, in 2016/17. This season's haul of 15 points was the club's highest total in the competition, eclipsing the 12 they earned in both 2013/14 and 2019/20.

Napoli's last two European campaigns have ended in the first knockout round of the UEFA Europa League. In 2021/22 they finished second behind Spartak Moskva in their section, collecting ten points from their six matches, but once again their European campaign was ended by Barcelona, this time in the knockout play-offs (1-1 a, 2-4 h).

Luciano Spalletti's side finished third in Serie A in 2021/22, the club's highest finish since ending 2018/19 as runners-up to Juventus.

Napoli are unbeaten in 11 home UEFA Champions League games (W8 D3), since a 4-2 defeat by Manchester City on Matchday 4 in 2017/18. The Italian club won only two of their four home games in last season's UEFA Europa League, however, losing the others.

After the round of 16 first legs Napoli were the top scorers in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League on 22 goals, two more than Real Madrid with Bayern München on 19.

All three of Napoli's previous last-16 ties have ended in defeat, the latest by Barcelona three seasons ago after two defeats by the eventual winners; Real Madrid beat Napoli 3-1 home and away in 2016/17, five years after Chelsea had turned round a 3-1 first-leg defeat in Naples with a 4-1 extra-time success in the return.

The first leg was Napoli's first game against a German club since a thrilling UEFA Europa League tie against Leipzig in the 2017/18 round of 32, a tie they lost on away goals after a 3-1 home loss was followed by a 2-0 away win in which Piotr Zieliński opened the scoring.

That made Napoli's aggregate record in two-legged knockout ties against German clubs W4 L4, three of those wins coming in their victorious 1988/89 UEFA Cup campaign.

That 2018 defeat at home to Leipzig made it one win in Napoli' last six games against German clubs in Naples (D2 L3). Overall, their home record against Bundesliga visitors is W4 D2 L4.

Three of those four victories came in the Partenopei's 1988/89 UEFA Cup-winning campaign, when they beat East German side Lokomotive Leipzig (2-0), Bayern München (2-0) and, in the first leg of the final, Stuttgart (2-1), the latter result setting up a 5-4 aggregate triumph.

The win in Frankfurt was only Napoli's seventh victory in their 21 games against Bundesliga sides (D5 L9).

Napoli have been victorious in all eight ties in UEFA competition when they have won the first leg away, most recently in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League round of 32 against Zürich (3-1 a, 2-0 h). Their sole previous 2-0 away first-leg win came against Bodø/Glimt in the 1976/77 European Cup Winners' Cup first round (1-0 h).

Napoli's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
3-4 v Toulouse, 1986/87 UEFA Cup first round
4-3 v Sporting CP, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round
3-5 v Spartak Moskva, 1990/91 European Cup second round

Frankfurt

This is Eintracht's first UEFA Champions League campaign – they are the only team making their debut in the 2022/23 competition. They are the 14th Bundesliga club to appear and Germany's first debutants since Hoffenheim in 2018/19.

Frankfurt's sole previous European Cup campaign came in 1959/60, their first season in UEFA competition, when they beat Young Boys (5-2 on aggregate), Wiener SC (3-2 agg) and Rangers (12-4 agg) before losing a remarkable final 7-3 to Real Madrid in Glasgow.

Eintracht claimed their second piece of European silverware in 2021/22, the 1980 UEFA Cup winners beating Rangers in the UEFA Europa League final at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. The German club finished first in Group D on 12 points before getting the better of Real Betis (2-1 a, 1-1 h aet) in the round of 16 and Barcelona (1-1 h, 3-2 a) in the quarter-finals, and ousting West Ham (2-1 a, 1-0 h) in the semis. Oliver Glasner's charges then beat Rangers 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Seville.

Frankfurt were the first Bundesliga team to win the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League since 1997, when Schalke beat Inter Milan, also on penalties, and the first to do so in a single-leg final.

The Eagles finished unbeaten in last season's competition (W7 D6) and became only the third team to go through a UEFA Europa League campaign without a defeat, after Chelsea in 2018/19 and Villarreal in 2020/21.

Eintracht were 11th in the Bundesliga last season, their lowest finish since ending 2016/17 in the same position.

The Frankfurt club lost 2-0 to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Helsinki on 10 August.

Frankfurt's UEFA Champions League debut also ended in disappointment with a 3-0 Matchday 1 loss at home to Sporting CP, but Glasner's side recovered to take ten points from their next five games, winning the last two 2-1 at home to Marseille and at Sporting. The latter victory in Lisbon looked to be enough to give them first place in Group D only for Tottenham to pip them thanks to a last-gasp winner in Marseille.

Eintracht's away record in last season's UEFA Europa League was W5 D1; they have won 11 of their last 17 away European fixtures, losing four, and were unbeaten in seven before a 3-2 Matchday 4 reverse at Tottenham.

While this is Frankfurt's first UEFA Champions League knockout tie, they have won seven of their ten two-legged contests in the UEFA Europa League, including two of the three in the round of 16.

This is Frankfurt's 11th game against an Italian club, the first leg their first since the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League round of 16 when Luka Jović scored the only goal of the tie against Inter in the sixth minute of the San Siro second leg.

That made Frankfurt's record in two-legged knockout ties against Italian clubs W2 L1.

Frankfurt have won three of their four games away to Serie A sides, the sole defeat a 3-0 reverse at Juventus in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg. That is one of only three losses in their ten fixtures against Italian clubs, home and away (W5 D2).

Eintracht have only twice previously lost the first home leg in a UEFA tie, going out to Dynamo Kyiv in the 1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup second round (2-3 h, 1-2 a) and Basel in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (0-3 h, 0-1 a).

Eintracht's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
4-5 v Salzburg, 1993/94 UEFA Cup quarter-final
3-4 v Chelsea, 2018/19 UEFA Europa League semi-final
5-4 v Rangers, 2021/22 UEFA Europa League final

Links and trivia

Have played in Germany:
Diego Demme (Arminia Bielefeld 2010–12, Paderborn 2012–14, Leipzig 2014–20)
Leo Østigård (St Pauli 2019/20 loan)
Victor Osimhen (Wolfsburg 2017–18)

Demme's record against Frankfurt was W4 D3 L1.

Østigård was in the St Pauli team beaten 2-1 at home by Frankfurt in the German Cup second round on 30 October 2019.

Have played together:
Amir Rrahmani & Kristijan Jakić (RNK Split 2015–16)

International team-mates:
Giovanni Simeone & Lucas Alario (Argentina)

Latest news

Napoli

UEFA Champions League squad changes

In: Bartosz Bereszyński, Pierluigi Gollini
Out: Salvatore Sirigu, Alessandro Zanoli, Alessio Zerbin

During the winter transfer window, Napoli signed Polish defender Bereszyński on loan from Sampdoria and replaced reserve goalkeeper Sirigu with Gollini.

Napoli made it nine wins in their last ten Serie A fixtures with a 2-0 home defeat of Atalanta on Saturday thanks to second-half goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and, with his second Serie A strike of the season, Amir Rrahmani.

Napoli's run of seven successive victories, and five consecutive clean sheets, was ended by a 1-0 home loss against Lazio on 3 March.

That was also their first defeat in Naples in 2022/23; they have won 14 of their other 16 home games in all competitions (D2).

Napoli had not lost a home game in Serie A since going down 2-3 to Fiorentina on 10 April 2022. The last time they had failed to score at home was a 0-1 defeat against Milan on 6 March 2022.

Since the end of the group stage Napoli have won 12 games and lost two in Serie A, scoring 30 goals and conceding seven.

Napoli have opened up an 18-point lead at the top of Serie A, and boast the best attack (60 goals scored) and the best defensive record (16 goals conceded) after 26 games.

Since returning from an injury on 16 October, Victor Osimhen has scored 17 goals in 16 Serie A games, failing to find the target only against Empoli on 8 November (2-0), Inter on 4 January (0-1), Lazio on 3 March and at the weekend against Atalanta. He has 19 goals in 22 league games this season.

Before ending his streak against Lazio, Osimhen had scored in each of his previous eight Serie A games with Napoli, ten goals in total. By finding the net in a 2-0 victory at Empoli on 25 February, he became the first player to score in eight consecutive Serie A games since Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus between December 2019 and February 2020.

With that victory against Empoli, Napoli became only the third team in Serie A history to win five consecutive away games without conceding after Inter (1950/51 and 1966/67) and Juventus (1951/52, 1981/82, 2011/12 and 2017/18).

While Osimhen is Serie A's leading scorer, Kvaratskhelia is the Italian top flight's leading assist provider with nine; the Georgian winger has also scored 11 goals.

Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen have either scored or assisted 43 of Napoli's 84 goals in all competitions this season (51%).

Elif Elmas has already scored six goals this season, equalling his personal record in 2016/17 with Rabotnički of North Macedonia.

On 12 November, Napoli won 11 consecutive games in Serie A for the first time in their history, beating Udinese 3-2.

On 21 January, a 2-0 win at Salernitana made Napoli only the third team to earn 50 points at the halfway point of a Serie A season since three points for a win was introduced in 1994/95, after Inter (2006/07) and Juventus (2013/14, 2018/19).

Luciano Spalletti's men were knocked out of the Coppa Italia at home in the last 16 by Cremonese on 17 January (2-2, 4-5 pens).

Franck Zambo Anguissa (2025 with option for 2027) and Stanislav Lobotka (2027 with option for further season) have recently signed new contracts.

Goalkeeper Alex Meret missed Saturday's win against Atalanta after spraining his wrist in the warm-up, while Minjae Kim limped off in the closing stages with an injury to his right calf.

On 14 February forward Giacomo Raspadori suffered a thigh injury in training and has not played since.

On 23 February Napoli coach Spalletti collected the Enzo Bearzot Award, given to the best Italian coach each year.

Frankfurt

UEFA Champions League squad changes

In: Philipp Max, Almamy Touré, Aurélio Buta
Out: Jens Grahl, Jérôme Onguéné, Luca Pellegrini

In January Eintracht signed Max from PSV Eindhoven on loan until the end of the season. Teenagers Paxten Aaronson (Philadelphia Union) and goalkeeper Simon Simoni (Dinamo Tirana) also moved to Frankfurt, who terminated Pellegrini's loan from Juventus while Onguéné returned to former club Salzburg on loan until the end of the season.

Frankfurt have one win in their last six games in all competitions, a run that includes three defeats. They were held 1-1 at home by Stuttgart on Saturday.

Sebastian Rode gave Frankfurt the lead early in the second half, his fourth Bundesliga goal in 2022/23 surpassing his 2019/20 total of three to make this the 32-year-old's most prolific campaign.

Since losing the first leg to Napoli, Frankfurt have also gone down 2-1 at Leipzig and drawn 2-2 at Wolfsburg.

The draw at Wolfsburg extended Frankfurt's run without an away win to six games (D4 L2), since a 2-1 victory at Augsburg on 5 November.

Oliver Glasner's team were unbeaten in nine matches (W6 D3) until a 3-0 loss at Köln on 12 February. A 2-0 home victory against Werder Bremen six days later is their sole success in the six games since (D2 L3).

Evan N'Dicka scored his first goal of the season in Wolfsburg. Randal Kolo Muani, who got Frankfurt's first goal in Wolfsburg, has 14 in his last 20 club games, including eight in the last ten.

Kolo Muani, who is suspended for the game in Naples, is the first Frankfurt player to reach double figures for both goals and assists in a Bundesliga season since 2004/05.

On 7 February Frankfurt reached the quarter-finals of the German Cup with a 4-2 win at home to 2. Bundesliga side Darmstadt, Kolo Muani scoring twice. They will be at home to Union Berlin on 4 April.

Jesper Lindstrøm is expected be out for several weeks after suffering an ankle injury in training on 8 March.

Junior Dina Ebimbe has been out since 21 January with a leg injury that required surgery.

On 3 February Kevin Trapp signed a new contract until 2026.

Kolo Muani made three appearances as France reached the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, scoring the second goal in the 2-0 semi-final win against Morocco and also converting in the final penalty shoot-out against Argentina.