Xavi tries to analyze Napoli’s strength ahead of the Europa League duel

DBasia.news – Barcelona will host Napoli in the first leg of the Europa League knock-out playoffs. Xavi Hernandez believes Napoli are not an easy opponent to beat.

As is known, Barcelona was forced to drop a caste to play in the Europa League after finishing third in the group stage of the Champions League this season.

Currently, Barcelona are fourth in La Liga, level on points with fifth-placed Atletico Madrid and one point ahead of sixth-placed, Real Sociedad. Real Betis, Sevilla and Real Madrid are ahead of them.

Napoli are third in Serie A, one point behind Internazionale and two behind league leaders Milan. Juventus are fourth, seven points behind the club that is synonymous with the south of Italy. Xavi considers Napoli to not be an easy opponent to beat.

“They are a uniformed and an experienced team. An ordinary team dominates the ball. But they also defended well with low blocks. [Piotr] Zielinski was a surprise, as was [Elif] Elmas. [Andre-Frank Zambo] Anguissa, Fabian [Ruiz], [Victor] Osimhen, [Lorenzo] Insigne,” he said, as reported by Football-Espana,

“This is a team that regularly plays in the Champions League. We had no luck with this draw. Analyzing them, you can see a lot of potential. The loss of [Stanislav] Lobotka was important for them but they have offensive full-backs in Mario Rui and [Giovanni] in Lorenzo. They are the main rivals and that’s why they are competing for the Scudetto.”