Copenhagen 1-1 Napoli: Key Draw Impacts UCL Progression Hopes

Copenhagen will face Napoli for the first time in this match, while it will be the first UEFA Champions League fixture between sides from Denmark and Italy since the 2020-21 campaign, where Atalanta went unbeaten home (1-1) and away (4-0) versus FC Midtjylland. Napoli have won all four of their previous games against Danish opposition in European competition, beating B 1909 Odense twice in the 1966-67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (second round) and FC Midtjylland twice in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League (group stage). Copenhagen are winless in all four of their games against Italian opponents in major European competition (D1 L3), losing each of the last three. The most recent of those was a 1-5 home defeat to Torino in the UEFA Europa League in December 2014. Following victories over Kairat (MD5) and Villarreal (MD6) – both by 3-2 scorelines – Copenhagen will be aiming to win three consecutive UEFA Champions League matches within the same edition for the first time. Napoli have lost each of their last five away games in the UEFA Champions League, conceding at least two goals in each defeat (17 in total). This is already their longest ever losing streak away from home in major European competition. Copenhagen have conceded more open play goals (14) than any other side in the UEFA Champions League this season, although only Pafos (1) have netted fewer times in open play than Napoli (2) so far. Half of Copenhagen’s goals in the UEFA Champions League this season have been scored from crosses (5/10). Of teams with more than two goals scored, this is the joint-highest percentage (50%) of goals via crosses in the current edition, along with their next opponents Napoli and Cypriot side Pafos. Scott McTominay (3) and Rasmus Højlund (2) are the only two Napoli players who have scored in the UEFA Champions League this season – only Slavia Prague (1) have had fewer different goalscorers (excluding OGs) than the Italian side (2) in this edition. 17-year-old Viktor Dadason has scored twice for Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League this season, while only two players have netted more while aged under-18 in a single campaign (5 by Lamine Yamal in 2024-25 and 3 by Lennart Karl this season). Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka has completed 91.6% of his passes under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season – of midfielders with 100+ attempted, only Frenkie de Jong (92.8%), Vitinha (92.4%) and Curtis Jones (92%) have a higher completion rate.