The Champions League is back this week with the remaining four first-leg matches in the round of 16. On Tuesday, LaLiga champion and current top-spot holder Barcelona will hope to shrug off negative off-field incidents when it visits Napoli.
In the other match of the day, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea will host Bayern Munich.
Lionel Messi is back in top form going into the game, giving Barcelona extra hope. Coach Quique Setién said the team carries good momentum entering the match against Napoli, which has won six of its last seven matches in all competition under coach Gennaro Gattuso, who admitted he was losing sleep ahead of the clash.
“Don’t make me think, leave me alone,” urged Gattuso after the win over Bresia in the Serie A. “It’s a competition I’ll lose sleep over, but on the other hand I almost never sleep now,” continued the 42-year-old.
Bayern coach Hansi Flick was keen to check out his options in the win over Paderborn on Friday.
Alphonso Davies dropped back to help Hernandez, with Alvaro Odriozola on the other side. Benjamin Pavard will return to the starting lineup against Chelsea, with Jerome Boateng also coming back to strengthen the defence. Both Niklas Sule and Javi Martinez are injured.
Corentin Tolisso and Philippe Coutinho were both taken off early against Paderborn and are unlikely to be given another chance in London, with Thomas Muller and Kingsley Coman expected to be preferred.
Lampard, meanwhile, faces some big decisions. Having spent much of the season in exile, Olivier Giroud was back with a bang against Tottenham on Saturday. Now Lampard must decide if Giroud is capable of repeating that display against Bayern.
Jose Mourinho’s cheeky pre-match claim that Lampard would return to the five-man defence he had employed against Tottenham earlier this season proved correct on Saturday.
Now the Chelsea boss must be tempted to deploy the same system against Bayern. The tactics gave Chelsea a more solid look at the back and freed Recce James and Marcos Alonso to join the attack.
Frustrating campaign
Like Giroud and Alonso, Ross Barkley had endured a frustrating campaign that suddenly offers hope of a rewarding finale after his influential display against Tottenham. Using the 26-year-old on the left side of Chelsea’s attack on Saturday unchained Barkley from any defensive responsibility.