Napoli director of sport Cristiano Giuntoli notes the club ‘made history’ by reaching their first Champions League quarter-final and want to keep adding records against Milan tonight.
It kicks off at the Stadio Meazza at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
“It is very exciting, these lads showed in the past that they can overcome the highest obstacles and we are confident,” Giuntoli told Amazon Prime Italia and Sky Sport Italia.
This is the first time Napoli have ever played in a Champions League quarter-final and they are also runaway Serie A leaders this season.
“Great results and credit are to be shared between everyone, from the President to the staff, the coach to the players. The patron has done extraordinary things, taking a team from the third division to the top of Europe. The President and his intuitions deserve a lot of praise.
“We did expect Napoli to be strong this season, but perhaps not quite this strong. We were counting on being competitive, but we didn’t even dream of reaching this level. If you don’t think about things, they don’t happen, and we are thinking.”
These sides met only 10 days ago at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where the Rossoneri grabbed a huge 4-0 victory with Rafael Leao’s brace, Brahim Diaz and Alexis Saelemaekers on target.
This is a very different tournament and they start from scratch, also knowing the second leg will be coming up on April 18 in Naples, by which point Victor Osimhen should’ve fully recovered from a muscular injury.
As Giacomo Raspadori is not fully fit yet either, Eljif Elmas starts as a False 9.
“Giacomo was not at 100 per cent and the coach decided it was best to not put too many minutes on a muscle that is still not fully recovered. We don’t have the other two strikers, he’s not fully fit either, so we hope he can give us a hand in the final stages.”
Inevitably, Giuntoli was asked about the transfer market, as players like Osimhen, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-jae have attracted interest from the richest clubs in the world.
“It is premature to talk about the transfer market, let us focus on tonight. We made history this evening and want to keep doing that.”