NAPOLI v NICE
Wednesday 16th August 2017 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – Europe – Champions League Betting Tips
Napoli will take on French Ligue 1 side, Nice, in the pick of the Champions League play-off fixtures on Wednesday night at their Stadio San Paolo, with a most lucrative place in the group stages of the Champions League at stake for both teams.
Napoli finished in third place in last season’s Italian Serie A which qualified them a play-off place in this year’s Champions League, and they’ve been keeping themselves busy over the summer months as they’ve been involved in seven club friendlies, which included a massive 17-0 win over Anaunia, not that we should read too much into this! However, a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup carries a little more weight.
Napoli come into this tie though in very good form as they’ve lost just once in their last 20 matches in all competitions, and are unbeaten in their last 11 on home turf in all matches. Watch out for attacking trio, Callejon, Mertens and Insigne who notched an amazing 60 goals between them last season.
Visitors Nice also finished in third place in their respective Ligue 1 division which earned them the right to enter the Champions League at this play-off stage, but they may not be in the best frame of mind ahead of this crucial two-legged clash as they’ve made a disastrous start to their new domestic league campaign.
Back-to-back defeats to Saint-Etienne away from home, and a 2-1 defeat at home to Troyes is not the start to the new campaign that Nice had envisaged, neither is it great preparation for a trip to one of the strongest sides in Serie A with a place in the Champions League group stages at stake.
I have to give the nod to Napoli here…
Pick: Napoli HT/FT @ 1.85 Coral
