Napoli Names McTominay Starter Against Villarreal in Champions League

Napoli travels to face Villarreal at Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday evening in the Champions League, with both teams seeking their first points after opening defeats and making lineup changes to improve their European campaigns.

According to livescore.com, Napoli coach Max Allegri selected Scott McTominay for his first start since surgery to correct a mild benign arrhythmia. Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Hojlund also entered the starting lineup.

Livescore.com reported that Napoli began the competition with a 1-0 home loss to Arsenal before improving domestically with a win over Bologna, a draw against Fiorentina, and a 3-0 victory against Frosinone.

The same report said Napoli made several adjustments, including Vanja Milinkovic-Savic replacing Alex Meret in goal and Giovanni Di Lorenzo moving to the left to allow Matteo Politano to feature.

Villarreal entered the match after a 3-2 Champions League defeat away to Borussia Dortmund, while sportsmole.co.uk reported the Spanish club had gone 12 Champions League matches without a win and lost 10 times during that run.

Sportsmole.co.uk reported Villarreal finished 35th out of 36 teams in last season’s league phase and faced another difficult route after failing to win their opening European fixture this season.

Villarreal coach Inigo Perez prepared his side without goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, Nicolas Pepe, and Tajon Buchanan because of injuries, according to livescore.com and sportsmole.co.uk. Renato Veiga, Gerard Moreno, and Georges Mikautadze were included in the expected lineup.

DAZN reported that Napoli have struggled to make deep Champions League runs since their strongest recent campaign in 2022-23, when they reached the quarter-finals after winning the Serie A title.

DAZN also reported that Napoli have qualified for the Champions League on 10 occasions since Inter Milan’s 2010 title, but failed to progress beyond the first phase in half of those appearances.

Napoli entered the match under pressure to improve their European record after last season’s elimination in the league phase, according to DAZN. The club hoped the recent domestic results under Allegri could carry momentum into the Champions League.

Livescore.com reported Napoli’s squad remained without Frank Anguissa, Mathias Olivera, Antonio Vergara, Alisson Santos, Costantino Favasuli, and Alessandro Buongiorno for the match against Villarreal.