Napoli drop Manolo Gabbiadini against Besiktas and could secure Champions League knockout qualification tonight.
It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
Napoli drop Manolo Gabbiadini against Besiktas and could secure Champions League knockout qualification tonight.
It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT). Follow the build-up and action on our LIVEBLOG.
The Partenopei will become the first ever side to reach the knockouts with three games to spare if they win tonight and Dinamo Kiev draw with Benfica.
It’d be a much-needed boost after a devastating couple of weeks that saw them suffer two consecutive Serie A defeats and lose top scorer Arkadiusz Milik for four months to a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Gabbiadini has struggled badly in the centre-forward role, having very different characteristics to Milik, so Maurizio Sarri is dropping the striker.
Instead, Dries Mertens takes the role of False 9, flanked by Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon.
Marek Hamsik is joined by Piotr Zielinski in midfield, while Nikola Maksimovic stands in for injured Raul Albiol at the back, plus veteran Christian Maggio.
Pepe Reina makes his 150th UEFA club competition appearance, only the ninth man to achieve this tally.
Besiktas are unbeaten in 90 minutes so far this season, losing the Turkish Super Cup to Galatasaray only on penalties in August.
So far both their Champions League group games have ended 1-1 and the club has never beaten Italian opposition in Europe.
Vincent Aboubakar, unlike Gabbiadini, is given the benefit of the doubt despite failing to score in seven appearances so far this season.
Their top scorer this term domestically, Cenk Tosun, is on the bench and raring to go.
Oguzhan Ozyakup is out with a sprained ankle, while ex-Inter men Ricardo Quaresma and Caner Erkin are back in Italy.
It is above all a homecoming for midfielder Gokhan Inler, who spent several years at Napoli, even wearing the captain’s armband, but is only on the bench.
The Swiss international midfielder of Turkish descent has never hidden his love for the San Paolo crowd and said in yesterday’s Press conference: “Once a Napoli man, you always will be.”
Napoli are unbeaten on home turf in 18 European matches, but Sarri suffered his first Serie A domestic defeat at the weekend against Roma.
Napoli: Reina; Maggio, Chiriches, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Zielinski, Jorginho, Hamsik; Insigne, Mertens, Callejon
Napoli bench: Sepe, Hysaj, Giaccherini, Allan, Maksimovic, Gabbiadini, Diawara
Besiktas: Fabri; Beck, Marcelo, Tosic, Caner Erkin; Necip Uysal, Hutchinson; Quaresma, Arslan, Adriano; Aboubakar
Besiktas bench: Tolga Zengin, Olcay Sahan, Cenk Tosun, Rhodolfo, Gohkan Gonul, Inler, Talisca
Ref: Karasev (RUS)