An intriguing mid-season friendly pits Napoli and Crystal Palace against each other for the first time at the Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort.
Napoli headed into the World Cup break as runaway Serie A leaders, having gone unbeaten in the opening 15 league rounds (W13, D2) to build a substantial eight-point lead on second-placed AC Milan. On top of that, Luciano Spalletti’s men secured progression into the Champions League knockout stages as Group A winners (W5, L1), highlighting their imperious form on multiple fronts. Not even a lack of several notable first-team stars was enough to knock ‘I Partenopei’ off their perch as they claimed an enthralling 3-2 victory over Antalyaspor a few days ago to extend their winning streak to four games. If there’s any downside for this high-flying Napoli team, then it’s the fact that their solitary defeat this season came at the hands of Palace’s fellow Premier League rivals, Liverpool.
Out-of-sorts Crystal Palace cannot catch a break even during the off-season. After drawing 0-0 with Brazilian side Botafogo RJ in their first mid-season friendly, they could only manage a 2-2 stalemate with Trabzonspor last time out. On a more positive note, goals on either side of halftime against the reigning Turkish champions halted Palace’s underwhelming run of three consecutive scoring blanks. Interestingly, the four-goal thriller against Trabzon witnessed as many goals as in Palace’s four previous matches combined. The friendly nature of this contest is probably the only saving grace for Patrick Vieira’s men, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in five of their last eight outings. Otherwise, they’d be in a world of trouble against one of Europe’s most in-form sides.
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