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Salzburg v Napoli facts

Salzburg have shown fine form in front of goal on their group return, and now have the opportunity to turn the tables on Napoli.

Salzburg's Erling Braut Haaland after the loss at Liverpool last time out
Salzburg's Erling Braut Haaland after the loss at Liverpool last time out ©Getty Images

Salzburg's 2018/19 European campaign was ended by Napoli, although the Austrian team will be able to draw on the memory of last season's home success as the teams meet again.

• Napoli came out on top in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 16 and lead the way in UEFA Champions League Group E having collected four points from their first two fixtures. Salzburg have recorded a win and a loss – although with nine goals, they are the second top scorers in the competition, behind only Bayern München (ten).

2018/19 highlights: Salzburg 3-1 Napoli

Previous meetings
• Napoli were 4-3 victors in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League in March, doing the damage in the Naples first leg thanks to unanswered goals from Arkadiusz Milik, Fabián Ruiz and a Jérôme Onguéné own goal.

• Milik's second goal of the tie 14 minutes into the return proved decisive, although Napoli were made to survive a Salzburg revival, goals from Munas Dabbur, Fredrik Gulbrandsen and Christoph Leitgeb proving enough only for a 3-1 victory.

Form guide
Salzburg
• Having not featured in the group stage since 1994/95, Salzburg returned with a bang thanks to a 6-2 win against Genk on Matchday 1, scoring five goals in the first half – only the seventh team to do so in the UEFA Champions League.

Watch Napoli put three past Salzburg last season

• Erling Braut Haaland's three goals made him the eighth player to score a UEFA Champions League debut hat-trick, and the first to do so in the first half. Aged 19 years 58 days, the Norwegian is the third youngest player to score a UEFA Champions League hat-trick, behind Raúl González (18 years 113 days) and Wayne Rooney (18 years 340 days).

• Salzburg scored another three goals in their last fixture, but conceded four to lose against Liverpool at Anfield.

• The Austrian club won a sixth successive Bundesliga title in 2018/19 – their 13th overall – adding the Austrian Cup to complete a domestic double for the sixth time, all since 2011/12. As Austrian champions, Salzburg qualified automatically for the group stage.

• Salzburg's sole previous UEFA Champions League group stage appearance came in 1994/95, their European Cup debut, when they finished third in a group involving eventual winners Ajax, a Milan side who went on to lose to the Dutch club in the final, and AEK Athens. With two points then awarded for a win, Salzburg picked up five from their six matches, a 3-1 victory away to AEK their sole success.

Highlights: Liverpool 4-3 Salzburg

• Of Salzburg's seven consecutive eliminations in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds between 2012/13 and 2018/19, three took place in the play-offs, including last season's defeat against Crvena zvezda (0-0 a, 2-2 h).

• The Austrian club therefore moved into the UEFA Europa League, a competition in which they had reached the semi-finals in 2017/18, and won all six of their group games for the third time – a competition record – to head a section including Celtic, Leipzig and Rosenborg. Marco Rose's side then beat Belgium's Club Brugge in the round of 32 (1-2 a, 4-0 h), before bowing out against Napoli.

• Salzburg are undefeated in 19 European home games, winning 15 including nine of the last ten and all the last six.

• Last season's second-leg defeat of Napoli was only Salzburg's fifth win against an Italian club in their 16th match. They lost their first four home games against Serie A opposition, all without scoring, but are unbeaten in the last four, winning three.

Highlights: Salzburg 6-2 Genk

• Their only European final appearance, in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup, ended with them losing both legs 1-0 to Internazionale, and their joint heaviest home European defeat (0-4) came against Parma in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup second round.

Napoli
• Late goals from Dries Mertens, a penalty, and substitute Fernando Llorente gave Napoli a 2-0 win against holders Liverpool in their first fixture. They were held 0-0 at Genk last time out.

• Serie A runners-up for the second season running in 2018/19, Napoli are in the group stage for the sixth time – all in the last nine seasons. They reached the round of 16 in 2011/12 and 2016/17 but have finished third in their section in the other three campaigns.

Highlights: Genk 0-0 Napoli

• The Partenopei picked up only two points in last season's group stage away from home, and are without a win in eight away matches in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final (D3 L5).

• Napoli have won only five of their last 16 matches in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final (D4 L7) – all those victories coming at the Stadio San Paolo.

• Having finished third behind Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool in last season's group stage, Napoli kicked off their UEFA Europa League campaign with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate win against Zürich before edging out Salzburg 4-3 over two legs in the round of 16. They were then eliminated from a second European competition of the season by an English club, however, losing 2-0 away to Arsenal and 1-0 at home in the quarter-finals.

• A 3-1 success at Zürich last season is Napoli's only victory in their last seven away European fixtures (D3 L3).

• The Naples club had never faced an Austrian club in UEFA competition before last season's tie against Salzburg.

Highlights: Napoli 2-0 Liverpool

Links and trivia
• Two Llorente penalties helped Athletic Club come from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw against Salzburg in the UEFA Europa League group stage on 20 October 2011.

• Salzburg's Enock Mwepu and Patson Daka both scored for Zambia in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying victories against an Algeria side that featured Faouzi Ghoulam of Napoli.

• Daka scored in Zambia's 3-2 extra-time defeat against Italy in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup quarter-finals; Haaland got Norway's goal in a 1-1 group stage draw against Italy at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship the following year.

• Have played together:
Maximilian Wöber & Amin Younes (Ajax 2017/18)

Latest news

Salzburg
• Dominik Szoboszlai is the youngest player to score in this season's UEFA Champions League. He was aged 18 years 327 days when he found the net in the 6-2 win against Genk on Matchday 1.

• Salzburg have won all but three of their 15 matches this season in all competitions, with the sole defeat coming at Liverpool on Matchday 2.

• Salzburg's nine-match winning run this season was ended by a 2-2 draw at LASK on 22 September.

• The Austrian champions have picked up 29 points from their first 11 league games; they drew 1-1 at Sturm Graz on Saturday.

• Matchday 1 was Erling Braut Haaland's fourth hat-trick of the season. The 19-year-old has scored 18 goals in 12 club appearances in 2019/20.

• The draw at Sturm was the first time Salzburg had failed to score at least two goals in a competitive game this season; they have hit four or more goals in ten of their 15 matches.

• Patson Daka scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win against Altach on 5 October and has nine goals in ten Austrian Bundesliga appearances this season.

• Sekou Koita, who was also on target against Altach, has six goals in seven Austrian Bundesliga appearances this season, including Salzburg's equaliser at Sturm at the weekend. He also scored for Mali in a 2-1 friendly loss away to South Africa on 13 October.

• Hee-chan Hwang scored in South Korea's 8-0 victory against Sri Lanka in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying on 10 October.

• Takumi Minamo scored once in Japan's 6-0 World Cup qualifying win against Mongolia on 10 October and two more goals five days later in a 3-0 victory in Tajikistan.

• Haaland missed the Altach game and Norway's European Qualifiers in the international break due to a hip injury; he played 61 minutes at Sturm.

• Antoine Bernede fractured his shin in the 2-1 Austrian Cup win at Rapid on 25 September.

• Alexander Walke (broken metatarsal) has been out since mid-June, but returned to team training in the international break.

Napoli
• Napoli have failed to score in three of their last five games in all competitions, although they did beat Verona 2-0 in Serie A on Saturday.

• Dries Mertens has scored 114 goals for Napoli, one behind Diego Maradona in the club's all-time charts and seven shy of record holder Marek Hamšík.

• Giovanni Di Lorenzo marked his Italy debut with an assist in the 5-0 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying win against Liechtenstein on 15 October.

• Arkadiusz Milik, who got both goals in Napoli's weekend win, was also on target in a 2-0 win against North Macedonia on 13 October as Poland sealed progress to the UEFA EURO 2020 finals.

• Hirving Lozano scored in Mexico's 5-1 win against Bermuda on 11 October but was carried off on a stretcher four days later against Panama (3-1) after damaging his ankle. He did not play against Verona.

• Elseid Hysaj suffered a chest injury after a bad fall in the 0-0 draw away to Torino on 6 October and missed Albania's subsequent European Qualifiers and Napoli's game at the weekend.

• Nikola Maksimović has not played since 29 September after suffering the recurrence of a left thigh injury.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Champions League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.