UCL : Anything stopping this Napoli team doing the Champions League and Scudetto double this season ?

Apparently not the biggest tip for glory in Europe’s most prestigious club competition but surely, not even the biggest tips want to come up against Gli Azzurri this time and not even at any moment since the start of the season. They have been that good and consistent.

Their only defeat in the Champions League this season has come when their status as group winner has literally been secured and never did they look blown away in Anfield even as Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners.

The scoreline did not tell the tale of the game as Leo Ostigard could have opened the scoring for Napoli if not for the intervention of the VAR while Luciano Spalletti also decided to rotate the squad with little to nothing to play for.

In the league, their only loss has come upon restart following the World Cup break and Inter can count themselves very lucky to have come up against this side at that time, to take advantage of the group just coming back together.

For Napoli, there is no more domestic cup commitment following their shootout loss to Cremonese in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia, the focus is now on the league, where they are already 15 points clear and the Champions League, where they have now established a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the round of 16, with the second leg to come in Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Everything seems to be going well for them at the moment and the form of Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been a huge boost. However, that should not take anything away from the other players, who have also been fantastic all season.

Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia have 48 goal contributions between them across all competitions for Napoli this season and this goals have been hugely decisive in having them where they are right now both in the league and in the Champions League.

Their consistency can be likened to world class players and Osimhen, the No.9 has scored in all but two games he has played in since the turn of the year, amassing ten goals and one assist in that time when he has played ten games.

This season, he has 20 goals across all competitions, 18 which have come in 18 starts in the league while two others have come in the Champions League, where he has started just three times. He also has three assists to his name.

Kvaratskhelia has been a revelation in his debut season at the club. 25 goal contributions for the 22year old Georgian, who has now reached 13 assists this season following his latest against Frankfurt, no player has more than his four assists in the Champions League this season.

Also in the Serie A where he has nine, he is the top assister and is close to reaching double figures, which he already did for goals, ten. He his on a run of goal contributions in six consecutive games, with four goals and five assists in the period.

The two have been the showmen for Napoli but while Spalletti has to be grateful for having the duo, he has also been blessed with a squad of players, and some other individuals have been sensational, too.

The midfield trio of Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa has been stupendous. Combination of skill, power and technical security, they have ensured the team plays really well whilst enjoying what they do. They also have good passes to keep the upfield players busy.

Their defensive contributions is marvelous. Luciano Spalletti’s tactics deserves credits but the prowess of these players to translate it in play and consistently, they deserve so much credits.

The defenders, led by team captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and other like Kim Min-Jae, Amir Rrahmani, Mathias Olivera and Mario Rui. These players have done very well that you find it difficult to pick out one as they do it collectively.

The rotating players have also been great and are making worthwhile contributions. The squad depth is good and in the absence of a player, another can easily come in and fill the void, without significant drop in quality.

Diego Demme, Eljif Elmas and Tanguy Ndombele are decent players that can be trusted to get things done in the absence of any of the regular options in midfield.

Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone are trio who can deputize in attack for the regular options and these set can feature in the attack of almost all of the other top teams in Italy. Wonder what others are doing allowing Napoli get hold of so much talents.

With 15 points lead established early in the second round of league games, if it all goes well, the Scudetto might have been won with notable games left to play and this will help Spalletti and his minions shift focus to Europe.

Right now, they've proven they have what it takes to rob shoulders with the heavyweights and if they continue with the way they go by things and players maintain form and fitness until the end of the season, it will be tough for anyone to get past them.

Napoli have scored the most goals in both the Champions League and Serie A this season. When a team dominates the ball so well and score so much goals, it is very difficult to get one over them.

Juventus ruled in Italy in the past decade and with this Napoli’s young charge, full of promise and commitment, the time could be right for them to establish their own dominance - even so, now that many of the other teams seem to find no rhythm but only struggling to stay relevant.

The challenge however will be keeping this players but from now until the end of the season, they have them and can look forward to maximizing this much potential to achieve what is there to be achieved.

Looking forward to see them come up against the other top teams in the later rounds of the Champions League and wishing them well before that too. It will be nice to see an Italian team clinch the Champions League title after 13 years since Inter’s win in Madrid.

If there's an Italian team that can do that this season, the strongest candidate at this stage is Napoli, even with Milan and Inter still in the competition.

This season, they have thrashed Liverpool, walloped Juventus, bashed Ajax and earn wins against Atalanta, Milan, Roma and Lazio so they have proven up to the task against big teams.

It will be interesting to see who far they've come, come the end of the season in May.

Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi