Barcelona vs. Napoli Predictions: Two bets for Thursday's massive Europa League clash

Live on BT Sports ESPN, Barcelona host Napoli in this Europa league round of 16 first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday at 5.45pm.

The hosts finished third in their Champions League group to drop down to the Europa League, whilst the visitors finished as the runners up of their group in the Europa League.

Xavi’s men are turning their form around having gone unbeaten in their last 12 games in all competitions now and recently beating Atletico Madrid at home impressively.

There is a bit of optimism around the club at the moment but the realistic target is now to finish top 4 and win the Europa League.

Barcelona are currently 3rd favourites to win the Europa League with odds of 8/1 widely available but Napoli will be a stern test for them.

Spalleti’s men are currently challenging for the Serie A title as they sit 3rd in the league table just 2 points behind leaders AC Milan. They are unbeaten in their last 7 games in all competitions and drew against Inter Milan last week in a game they could have won on the balance of play.

This is an incredibly tough game to call which is why I will not be touching the results market in my betting selections. 2 elite sides in great form go up against each other and I am expecting a cracking game of football.

An mouth-watering Europa league clash awaits us, and usual I have you covered with 2 of my best betting angles included in the preview below:

Team News:

Samuel Umtiti, Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto, Ronald Araujo, Balde & Dani Alves are out for Barcelona while Lenglet & Depay are doubtful.

Matteo Politano, Hirving Lozano, Stanislav Lobotka & Axel Tuanzebe are out for Napoli while Victor Osimhen is doubtful.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Ter Stegen: Dest, Pique, Garcia, Alba; F de Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Traore, Aubameyang, Gavi

Napoli possible starting lineup:

Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Anguissa, Ruiz; Elmas, Zielinski, Insigne; Osimhen

Barcelona are scoring and conceding goals for fun at the moment.

They have seen Over 2.5 goals in their last 4 out of 5 games in all competitions and their last 2 games have seen a huge total of 10 goals.

The Catalans' are playing attacking football under Xavi but their defence still looks vulnerable which could turn this game into an entertaining affair.

Barca have seen Over 2.5 goals in their last 3/3 home games against Napoli and the visitors have seen this bet land in their last 7/7 games in the Europa League.

The stats are heavily predicting a goal-fest so we will be taking that angle @ 4/5 with a 1pt stake as our main bet for this exciting Thursday night Europa League clash.

Mario Rui is Napoli’s most booked player with 6 yellow cards to his name and could potentially be up against the pacy Adama Traore.

Victor Osimhen is the only player in this Napoli team to hit double digits on the goals front. He has 4 goals in just 3 games in the Europa League across 168 minutes which is a lethal record.

Finally, Adama Traore has had 2 assists for Barcelona in 2 appearances and he could start here again. I can see him troubling the defence and get another assist to his name.

Combining these 3 selections gives us a huge longshot @ 33/1 and I am happy to have a very small 0.25pt stake on that.

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.