Napoli travel to Villarreal in search of Champions League redemption

Villarreal host Napoli on Tuesday 13 October at 21:00 CET (20:00 UK) at the Estadio de la Cerámica in Vila-real, Spain, for the second matchday of the 2026/27 Champions League league phase. Massimiliano Allegri's side arrive off a 0-1 defeat to Arsenal in their European opener, a defeat that stings more in a competition where Napoli feel judged more harshly than elsewhere.

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Villarreal are also chasing a first result of their own: they lost 2-3 to Borussia Dortmund on matchday one. Two teams coming off defeats, then, both needing to get their group moving at the second attempt.

Napoli's Champions League record against Villarreal is good: they have won both previous meetings in this competition. The picture flips in the Europa League, where the Spanish side have never lost to Napoli in four games - a head-to-head that counts for something, not a guarantee, and one Allegri will try to turn in his favour.

Napoli will again be without Antonio Vergara, out with the soleus injury he picked up on international duty, and without Alisson Santos for the trip to Vila-real. After a start to the season that has already put Allegri under scrutiny, Europe is the stage where performances lacking in character go unforgiven - doubly so away from home, against a side in the same early-season emergency after their own opening defeat.

Napoli's European calendar continues on Tuesday 20 October at the Maradona against Bodø/Glimt, with tickets already on sale - another chance, in short order, to change the course of a group stage that has started in the worst possible way.