Napoli vs Barcelona Prediction and Betting Preview 25 Feb 2020

Here's our Napoli vs Barcelona Prediction analysis:

Barcelona travel to the Stadio San Paolo on Tuesday evening to face Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

Match status: 2019/20 Champions League - Play Offs - 1/8-finals
Kick-off: Tuesday 25 Feb 2020, 09:00pm CET
 Venue: Stadio San Paolo (Naples)

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Quique Setien's men head into the game high on confidence having regained top spot in La Liga at the weekend thanks to a 5-0 win over Eibar with four of those goals scored by Lionel Messi.

Napoli, meanwhile, have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions, but remain an unpredictable entity under Gennaro Gattuso.
Barcelona make the trip to Italy to face Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie having put together a three-match winning streak in La Liga.

The home side have also enjoyed a strong recent run, registering three victories in all competitions to boost their chances in Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

Napoli vs Barcelona Team News

After a number of less-than-convincing performances during his opening weeks as Barcelona boss, Quique Setien would have naturally had concerns that his stint at Camp Nou could become short-lived.

However, having recorded seven wins from nine games, the former Real Betis man has now settled into life at the Catalan giants and will be confident of eventually edging out Real Madrid for the La Liga title.

Having come through hard-fought contests with his ex-club and Getafe, Saturday's 5-0 demolition of Eibar came at the right time ahead of what should be a testing encounter in Naples.

Lionel Messi had gone four games without finding the back of the net before that contest, subsequently ending that drought with the latest four-goal haul of his historic career.

The Argentine will now want to take that form into Tuesday's meeting with Napoli after only scoring twice from five outings during the group stages.
The biggest concern for Setien ahead of this game will be Barcelona's away form, with defeats having been suffered at Valencia and Athletic Bilbao in recent weeks.

Gennaro Gattuso initially found things difficult when being named as the successor to Carlo Ancelotti, losing four of his first six games in charge in all competitions.
The negative results led to Napoli dropping down into mid-table, a position once deemed unthinkable given the club's place towards the top of the table in recent years.

However, the former AC Milan chief has turned things around, guiding Napoli to six wins from seven matches, subsequently helping the club's cause in both domestic competitions.
Although Coppa Italia triumphs over Lazio and Juventus made the headlines, their work in Serie A has taken Gli Azzurri back into contention for next season's European places.
Several of their key men have chipped in with goals in recent matches, although three matches have passed since Napoli found the back of the net in the first half.

Nevertheless, Gattuso will not mind providing that his players continue their strong finishes to matches, something which may be required to keep Barcelona's away goals down to a minimum.

During the group stages, Napoli came through their games with Liverpool, Red Bull Salzburg and Genk conceding just the one goal, which came from the penalty spot.

While there has been a change in the dugout since those fixtures were played, Gattuso will want to see more of the same from his players, a resoluteness which will most likely be required against a team of Barcelona's quality.

Injured or Suspended Players

Napoli: Ghoulam, Malcuit, Younes, Koulibaly and Llorente.

Barcelona: Luis Suarez, Dembele, Jordi Alba and Braithwaite.

Pre-Match Odds

Napoli: 3.28
Draw: 3.68
Barcelona: 2.24

All odds are with 1xBet and are subject to change.
All odds are for Napoli vs Barcelona Predictions with 1xBet and are subject to change.

Napoli vs Barcelona Predictions

Given Napoli's recent form, Barcelona should not have it all their own way on Tuesday evening. However, the visitors are starting to improve under Setien, and we feel that the Catalan outfit will return to Spain with a slender advantage.