In the fifth round of the group stage of the European Champions League, Italian team Napoli will host Real Madrid on Wednesday at 22:00 Jerusalem time at the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium.

Real will be looking to top Group Three with 12 points, ahead of second-placed Napoli with 7 points, while the southern Italian club will be looking to book their ticket to the next round. The prestigious Continental Championship.

Real Madrid have not lost to Napoli in five previous European competitions (4 wins and 1 draw), and have won all three in the Champions League (two in 2016-2017 and the second round this season).

In previous clashes, Napoli have lost both of their European matches away to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, where they were beaten 2-0 in the European Cup in September 1987 and 3-1 in the Champions League in February 2017.

Real Madrid have won 15 of their last 16 Champions League games against Italian teams (one loss), including each of their last nine in a row. This is the longest winning streak in a single-team competition against Italian clubs. Plus… Real Madrid’s longest winning streak against teams from a specific country.

The Merengues have won 8 of their last nine games at home in the Champions League (one draw), keeping a clean sheet in four of their last five matches at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

After defeating Portugal’s Sporting Braga and Germany’s Union Berlin in the first and third rounds, Napoli are looking to win three consecutive matches away from home in the Champions League for the first time in their history.

By: Hani Abdel Nabi

Tuesday, November 28, 2023 08:40 PM

Italian Carlo Ancelotti has been assured by the Brazilian Football Confederation that he will take up Selecao national team duties in the coming period after his contract with Real Madrid expires, according to press reports.

According to Brazilian newspaper “G Globo”, the Brazilian Football Confederation has enough guarantees for Carlo Ancelotti’s future in the Brazilian national team, especially after the end of his contract with Spanish Real Madrid.

Carlo Ancelotti’s contract with Real Madrid expires at the end of the current 2023-2024 season, allowing an agreement to be reached within months of him officially announcing his takeover.

Carlo Anciotti, coach of the Brazil national team

It comes as Brazilian press reports revealed that the local federation there has signed Italian Carlo Ancelotti to lead the Samba national team, amid reports that Spanish giants Real Madrid are looking to extend his contract until the end of June 2025 and beyond. Season, now to present the details of his contract with Merengue, a few hours before… Classico Brazil vs Argentina In the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, it ended with Tango’s victory.

According to sources within the Brazilian Football Confederation, the network confirmed:Full game“Carlo Ancelotti signed a contract with Brazil, everything is calm, there is no risk of anything happening.

The “Football Spain” website confirmed that Ancelotti had avoided answering questions about his future for most of last year, but declared that he was happy at Real Madrid and that he would be satisfied if the club wanted him to stay. ..

Ancelotti told Napoli’s Champions League press conference tomorrow: “I don’t want to talk about my future or renewing my contract.”

The Real Madrid coach added: “Napoli is a big team, a strong competitor, and has a very strong attacking line. Tomorrow, Real Madrid will top this group. We will go on to victory.

Ancelotti continued: “We got these results despite all the injuries, which shows that the team is fantastic.”

He returns to “hell” tomorrow, 30 years after leaving the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul, carrying behind him the disappointment of one of the worst nights in Manchester United’s history of being knocked out of the Champions League. Turkey’s Galatasaray is an exceptional fixture, and another he is trying to avoid going out on.

United enter the competition sitting bottom of Group One, so their campaign could end prematurely if they lose again to the Turkish side, who shocked them by beating them 2-3 at home in the second round.

On November 3, 1993, the “Red Devils” were eliminated from the continental competition (3-3 in the first leg), after being satisfied, they would meet in the fifth and final round. A goalless draw at the club’s Turkish stronghold.

United, coming off a campaign that led to the Premier League title at the time, were hoping to make their first run in the competition longer since 1969, even after settling for a draw at home.

But he did not expect to live in “hell” in Istanbul before his players set foot on the field, with thousands of Galatasaray fans greeting him at the airport with hostile chants and a highly visible banner reading “Welcome to hell”.

United’s manager at the time, Scottish legend Alex Ferguson, described the intimidation he and his players suffered as “the worst hostility and harassment I have ever experienced in my life”.

But United, clearly affected by the volcanic atmosphere at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, failed to achieve the desired result and Galatasaray equalized as it was only the beginning of the dream. Difference.

As was the case before and during the match, the result was chaotic, with French star Eric Cantona hit with a baton by a Turkish policeman after he was sent off after the final whistle.

“Tea Party”

United midfielder Bryan Robson tried to save Cantona when he fell on the concrete stairs leading to the dressing room, injuring his arm and requiring 6 stitches.

United midfielder Paul Ince spoke of what he and his teammates experienced that evening, saying, “There was incredible hatred. Even the police started fighting us. I remember one of the police officers hitting Eric on the head.”

For another United player, Gary Pallister, the atmosphere of United’s matches at Anfield, the home of their local rivals Liverpool, seemed like a “tea party” compared to what they experienced at home to Galatasaray.

Stones were thrown at the United bus as it left the stadium, leaving a shocked Ferguson shouting “I don’t want to go there again”.

But he had to return there a year later to meet the Turkish side in the group stage, and he failed to find the net again, settling for a goalless draw, which later contributed to the start of his career by finishing third in the group. Behind Gothenburg, Sweden and Barcelona, ​​Spain.

Galatasaray is a “house of terror” for United, who have failed to win on three visits to the Turkish side’s home ground, the last of which was a clean sheet in the group stage in November 2012.

Despite the closure of the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in 2010, visiting the banks of the Bosphorus remains one of the most difficult tasks in European football.

There is no doubt that Galatasaray’s fans will be no less excited than they were 30 years ago, especially since the team will play Bayern Munich until the quarter-finals of the continental championship, a difficult task on Wednesday in front of more than 52 thousand spectators who will face United very much. .