{"id":128284,"date":"2023-09-19T13:23:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/?p=128284"},"modified":"2023-09-19T13:23:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:23:14","slug":"braga-vs-napoli-lineups-predictions-ucl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/braga-vs-napoli-lineups-predictions-ucl\/","title":{"rendered":"Braga vs Napoli lineups, 3 predictions &#8211; Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2023-24 Champions League group stage gets underway this week and these Braga vs Napoli predictions have been put together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wednesday\u2019s game between the Portuguese side and the Italians, which promises to be an exciting fixture, will be played at Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Braga in Braga.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Braga went through the <a href=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/uefa-champions-league-news\/\">UEFA Champions League<\/a> qualifiers, where they defeated Panathinaikos to make a triumphant return to European football\u2019s biggest stage for the first time in 11 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victor Osimhen's side won the <a href=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/serie-a\/\">Serie A<\/a> title last season while falling short in Europe at the quarterfinal stage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the same group as Real and Madrid and Union Berlin, Napoli, and Braga, who have not tasted success in this competition before, will be keen to make a mark before the change of format comes into play next season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take a look at what could potentially happen in this UCL opener in Portugal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Braga vs Napoli probable lineups<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are our probable lineups for this UCL match:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Braga<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(4-2-3-1) &#8211; Matheus; Gomez, Fonte, Oliveira, Borja; Horta, Carvalho; Lopes, Bruma, Djalo; Banza.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Napoli\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Jesus, Rui; Elmas, Lobotka, Anguissa; Zielinski, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Braga vs Napoli confirmed lineups<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*Lineups will be automatically updated shortly after they're released<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Braga vs Napoli predictions<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been a lukewarm start to the league season for Braga (W2, D1, L2), with a 3-1 defeat against Farense at the weekend putting the Artur Jorge under early pressure. On the other hand, Napoli are without a win in their past two games coming into this UCL opener. Here are our three predictions for the match.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prediction 1: Napoli to Win<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Braga are on a four-game losing streak against Italian sides and that should give the Naples side some confidence going into Wednesday\u2019s game. The Italians do have more European experience compared to their opponents. With the likes of Osimhen, Lobotka, and Zielinski, the quality is limitless and they are heavy favourites to begin their campaign with a win.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prediction 2: Both teams to score<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is one prediction that looks more like a banker. Napoli\u2019s games have been producing goals since last season and it seems they might even do more this campaign. Both teams have scored in three of the Serie A champions' four games so far. Similarly, Braga\u2019s last seven out of eight matches have seen both teams score.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prediction 3: Over 2.5 Total Goals<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All but one of Napoli\u2019s games have produced over 2.5 goals this season, while Braga\u2019s past two games have produced a combined nine goals. Nigerian star Osimhen netted five Champions League goals last season and has also bagged three goals in his first four Serie A appearances of 2023-24.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Braga vs Napoli recent form<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Braga<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Braga have won three of their past five matches in all competitions. Similarly, they have won three of their past five home games. However, they come into this UCL tie on the back of a 3-1 loss at Farense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Napoli<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have not had the best start to their Serie A title defence. They lost to Lazio at home just before the international break before rallying back to snatch a point at Genoa at the weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Braga vs Napoli Head-to-Head<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their only previous meeting came in a friendly back in 2012. The Serie A side won 3-1 with Goran Pandev scoring twice in the comfortable win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2023-24 Champions League group stage gets underway this week and these Braga vs Napoli predictions have been put together.\u00a0 Wednesday\u2019s game between the Portuguese side and the Italians, which promises to be an exciting fixture, will be played at Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Braga in Braga. Braga went through the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":977,"featured_media":128288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no"},"categories":[1,14311],"tags":[14720,11578],"table_tags":[],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Barend Prins","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/977"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128284"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128299,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128284\/revisions\/128299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128284"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=128284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}