There’s a lot of work ahead for Napoli and Arsenal if any sort of UEFA Champions League future awaits them.
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Aside from road goals and home cooking, the Serie A and Premier League sides have little else going for them in second legs against killer opponents on Tuesday.
Napoli vs. Real Madrid -- 2:45 p.m. EDT
Maurizio Sarri and Partenopei know it could be worse -- See: Arsenal -- but won’t be planning quarterfinal parties after falling 3-1 at the Bernabeu.
Lorenzo Insigne scored in the eighth minute of the first leg before Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, and Casemiro showcased the might of reigning champions.
2-0 at home would do it for Napoli, but Real has not been shutout since an April 6 first leg UCL match against Wolfsburg on April 6, 2016.
Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich -- 2:45 p.m. EDT
The Gunners were outright shellacked at the Allianz Arena, conceding five times in an onslaught that did little for the confidence of Arsenal fans.
Reversing score lines like 5-1 doesn’t happen often due to the nature of the beast, and flipping the script against a power like Bayern Munich is another story altogether (especially without Mesut Ozil). Sure there’s the 4-0 home loss to Real Madrid in 2013-14 and a blowout to Barcelona in 2008-09, but that’s the exception to the rule.
Then again, this could set up to be the latest in a long line of big wins when Arsene Wenger has been counted out, couldn’t it?
Incredibly unlikely, yeah, but the 67-year-old from Strasbourg would love to put one (last?) big result on his Arsenal resume. It’s more likely this is Wenger’s final UCL match as Arsenal boss, and that paints a relatively uninteresting affair in a different color.