H2H: Rijeka vs Napoli – Prediction (Europa League

H2H: Rijeka v Napoli – Comparison.

Sandro Kulenović scored a mere consolation vs AZ (Oct 29), though a significant 25% of his previous career goals have been matchwinners. Napoli forward Matteo Politano scored the winner vs Sociedad (Oct 29), meaning that all four of his prior goals in the UEL proper have come in the second half, and closed the scoring in their respective games. Including qualifiers, Napoli’s previous 11 UEL away wins (Aug 2010-Oct 2020) have yielded an average margin of 2.09 goals. That sequence includes five wins by a precise two-goal margin.

Rijeka Insights.

Two straight UEFA Europa League (UEL) defeats – as part of three competitive losses on the trot – means that anything other than a Rijeka win will put them on the brink of early elimination. However, they have avoided defeat in their three prior UEL group stage home matches played against opposition drawn from pot 1 (W1, D2), with the win coming against AC Milan in 2017. With that victory vs Milan being the oddity, Rijeka have now lost three of their last four group-stage home matches in this competition, with all defeats seeing the decider scored beyond the hour mark. Each of the defeats to see both teams score saw the Croatians net Goal 2, only to concede Goal 3 in precisely the 62nd minute on both occasions.

Napoli Insights.

Isolating only Serie A (SA) and UEL action, neither of Napoli’s ‘last ten games’ in either competition have produced a draw (SA: W6, L4 – UEL: W5, L5). Though only four of those combined 11 wins saw both teams score, three of that particular quartet saw Napoli win one half by a precise 2-0 scoreline. Napoli’s competitive away record this term alone is strong (W3, L1), though their HT record across the wins (D2, L1) is not. The UEL victory in that sequence (1-0 vs Sociedad) means that three (60%) of their last five UEL away wins have seen them win the second half 1-0.