Manchester United vs SSC Napoli Tickets

Manchester United enjoyed their most prolonged impact in the UEFA Champions League during the peak of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign as manager, and the ten years that followed his exit from the club have been in marked contrast to what the Scot achieved.

Between 1999 and 2011, Ferguson’s side battled through to four finals, losing two to FC Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 and famously beating Bayern Munich in 1999 and Chelsea in 2008 in Moscow.

The Premier League side also secured strong runs to the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals in this period, but since losing Ferguson, they have barely made an impression on the tournament at all.

In 2013/14, David Moyes took the team to the Quarter-Finals of the competition, where they were beaten by Bayern Munich, and the Scot was duly sacked two weeks later. Little did they know that this last eight finish would be the best it would get for another decade.

Jose Mourinho did help the team to win the UEFA Europa League in 2016/17, but clearly, a team of Manchester United’s size and stature would be seeing a strong finish in the Champions League as the very minimum requirement.

Erik ten Hag led the Old Trafford side to a top-four finish and a return to the Champions League for 2023/24, as well as a Carabao Cup success, but in truth, Manchester United are some way off where they’d want to be, but that does not lessen the excitement for the club’s massive global fanbase going into the new season.

Napoli, on the other hand, are very much on the way up. In 2022/23, the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona Stadium side won their first domestic title in over 30 years and will be looking to impress in the Champions League.

Their first appearance in the competition came in 1987/88 when they were knocked out by Real Madrid in the First Round, and their second campaign, in 1990/91, didn’t end up much better, with the Italian side losing in the Second Round to Spartak Moscow.

In the UEFA Champions League era, they have not had much to shout about, with three Round of 16 exits to show for it prior to 2022/23, when they went one better before losing to Serie A rivals AC Milan in the Quarter-Finals.

Manchester United vs Napoli head-to-head

Surprisingly, Manchester United and Napoli have never met in competitive action before, making this tie even more enticing.

Manchester United vs SSC Napoli Connections

As far as connections between the two teams, there are few examples of players who have represented both teams. Axel Tuanzebe spent a brief spell on loan in Naples in 2022 before he left for Ipswich Town.

Another player who has been rather more accomplished in his activities with the two teams is Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani. The powerful forward spent three productive seasons with Napoli, scoring 104 goals in 138 games before he was sold to Paris Saint-Germain in 2013.

In the French capital, Cavani scored 200 times in 313 appearances, winning countless honours in the process, before he moved to Manchester United, where he scored 19 goals in 59 games for the club before he was on his way again, this time going to Spain to join Valencia.