Dynamo Kiev vs Napoli: Preview and Prediction

Dynamo Kiev vs Napoli
UEFA Champions League – Group B
Date: Tuesday, 13th September, 2016,
Kick-Off: 19:45 UK,
Venue: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex (Kiev).

Dynamo Kiev opens their Champions League campaign when they welcome Napoli for the Group B clash on Tuesday evening.

The defending Ukrainian Premier League had a decent run in the last season’s Champions League after progressing to the round of 16 from a group that involves Chelsea and Porto. They bowed out of the tournament after losing 3-1 on aggregate to Manchester City. They will be hoping to emulate a similar run this term from a moderate group that includes the likes of Benfica and Besiktas besides their Tuesday’s opponent Napoli.

Napoli are making their third appearance in the Champions League and this time they got here by finishing as runners-up in the 2015/16 Serie A. The last appearance came in the 2013/14 season under the management of Rafa Benitez. In a strong group alongside Arsenal, Dortmund and Marseille, the Serie A side collected 12 points but failed to make it to the round of 16. During their debut campaign in 2011/12, Napoli reached the round of 16 before losing out to Chelsea.

The two other teams of Group B in the 2016/17 edition of UEFA Champions League areBenfica and Besiktas.

Dynamo Kiev vs Napoli: Head-to-Head Stats

This is the first ever meeting between these two sides in a UEFA competition.

Dynamo Kiev have a poor record against Italian clubs as they managed 2 wins from the 20 meetings so far, drew 6 and lost 12.

Napoli’s lone meeting with a Ukrainian club came during the 2014/15 Europa League semi-final. They drew 1-1 at Naples before losing 1-0 at Ukraine.

Dynamo Kiev vs Napoli: Prediction

Both sides are on a good run in their domestic leagues, but this will be an entirely different battle. Dynamo Kiev have shown they are no pushovers as they held the likes of Porto and Chelsea to draws in the group phase last season. While Napoli have only won in 3 of their last 10 away matches in all competitions. And the Italian club have lost in half of those fixtures and lost to Dnipro in the only previous trip to Ukraine.

Despite the bookies making Napoli are favourites to win here, I believe Dynamo are in a better shape to come out with something from this match. Therefore it will be beneficial to back the home side on a double chance and the odds of 1.62 comes with good value.