Champions League: Napoli vs. Ajax Prediction

Fresh off an emphatic 6-1 victory over Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena, Napoli will welcome the Dutch powerhouse at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for a rematch.

Another win for the Neapolitans will assure them of a Champions League knockout stage place.

Apart from avenging the recent humiliation, Ajax need to take points from the game to stay in contention for the knockout stages.

Napoli on fire

Luciano Spaletti’s men affirmed their status as one of the most formidable attacking units in the continent by cruising to a 6-1 win away at Ajax Amsterdam last week.

The Johan Cruyff Arena crowd celebrated an early goal that put the hosts ahead. But, they were soon left in shellshock as the visitors responded by putting half a dozen goals past Ajax custodian Remko Pasveer.

Napoli took their destructive form to Serie A as they demolished Cremonese 4-1 to pick up another dominant away win.

It was Napoli’s 10th win in 12 matches. Giovanni Simeone, who scored the sixth goal at Ajax, found the net once again. Matteo Politano, Hirving Lozano, and Mathías Olivera made up the rest of the scoreline for the away side.

Other than Atalanta, Napoli are the only side in Serie A yet to taste defeat this season.

A 22-goal haul by their attackers has been instrumental to their rise to the Serie A top spot.

Napoli forwards have thrived in Europe as well, having hit the target 13 times in three outings. So, Napoli fans can hope to see their team pass the Champions League Round-of-16 stage for the first time in their history.

However, they still need three more points to book their RO16 tickets.

The horrific experience of their 6-1 thrashing to Napoli last week will haunt Ajax for a long time, but de Godenzonen must start anew on Wednesday night to bring something back from their trip to Naples.

The five-time European champions started their Champions League campaign with a remarkable 4-0 victory at home before suffering a narrow 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.

The 6-1 loss to Napoli have left them third in the group with three points under their belt.

If Liverpool manages to beat Rangers at home and Ajax lose again, the Reds will go six points clear of the Eredivisie giants. That scenario will all but confirm Ajax’s elimination from the Champions League group stages.

Ajax do have some inspiration to take from their weekend Eredivisie performance ahead of their crunch clash with Napoli.

Alfred Schreuder’s men picked up a 4-2 win at Volendam to stay only one point away from table toppers AZ Alkmaar.

Team news

The Ajax camp will not be thrilled to know that Napoli will get back their prolific striker Victor Osimhen from injury on Wednesday night.

One of Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone might have to make way for the Nigeria international.

Amir Rrahmani will take a late fitness test to know whether or not he will be ready to feature in the Napoli backline. Leo Ostigard will be ready to deputise in his absence.

Skipper Dušan Tadić will not be travelling with the Ajax squad as he will serve suspension for getting sent off in the reverse fixture. Lucas Ocampos or Francisco Conceição might replace the Croatian in the starting XI.

Ajax will be desperate for a win since their Champions League survival is on the line.

While the scoreline is likely to be more competitive than their last encounter, we don’t see Ajax stopping the unbeaten run of Spaletti’s high flying Napoli.

It could be a 2-1 win for Napoli.