Champions League Matchday 6:Benfica vs Napoli facts

Benfica will look to build on their first points of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League as they welcome a Napoli side who are four points better off than their Portuguese hosts ahead of their Matchday 6 fixture in Lisbon.

Last match

Napoli have won three of the four games between the teams (L1), including both in the 2016/17 group stage – 4-2 at home and 2-1 away.

Benfica's sole win against their Italian rivals proved decisive, however, a 2-0 home success in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round second leg sealing a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Benfica have lost only two of their last eight matches against Italian teams (W3 D3), although a 2-0 victory at Juventus in the most recent – on Matchday 8 of last season's Champions League – ended a five-game winless run (D3 L2).

The Eagles won four of their first six games at home to Italian visitors (D1 L1) but only three of the subsequent 12 (D5 L4) and one of the last five (D2 L2).

Napoli have lost only two of their 15 matches against Portuguese teams (W9 D4), a 2-1 home win against Benfica's Lisbon rivals Sporting CP on Matchday 2 making it five successive victories.

The Partenopei have won their last two games in Portugal 2-1, most recently at Braga in the 2023/24 group stage.

Benfica

This is Benfica's 45th European Cup campaign, behind only Real Madrid's 56. This is their 20th appearance in the Champions League proper and a 15th in the last 16 seasons.

In 2024/25 the Eagles were 16th in the league phase (W4 D1 L3), beating Monaco 4-3 in the knockout phase play-offs before a 1-4 aggregate last-16 loss to Barcelona.

Napoli 

This is Napoli's ninth campaign in the Champions League proper; their best performance came in 2022/23, when they reached the quarter-finals.

The Naples club were not involved in UEFA competition in 2024/25 – the first time they had missed out since 2009/10.

Key stats

David Neres scored 17 goals in 83 appearances in all competitions across two seasons for Benfica before joining Napoli in August 2024.

Benfica ended a six-game winless Champions League run with a 2-0 Matchday 5 victory at Ajax – the only other team who had also lost their first four games in this season's league phase.

Benfica had not scored in their previous three Champions League matches.

The Eagles have won only one of their last 12 home matches in the Champions League proper (D3 L8) and none of the last seven (D2 L5).

Fredrik Aursnes celebrates his 30th birthday on the day of the game; Alexander Bah turns 28 a day earlier.

All seven of Napoli's points in this season's league phase have come at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where they beat Qarabağ 2-0 on Matchday 5.

The Italian side have lost their last four away Champions League matches, going down 6-2 at PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 3 – Napoli's biggest European Cup defeat and the first time they had conceded six goals in a European game.

Scott McTominay has three goals in his last three Champions League appearances having managed one in his previous 24.