Previous encounters
HEAD-TO-HEADS
Napoli and Cagliari are set to lock horns at Maradona once again on Saturday evening – three months after the Azzurri beat the Sardinians at the same venue to clinch the club's fourth league title.
There have been 45 previous Serie A meetings between the two sides with Napoli as the home team. Napoli have won 28 (the most recent being that 2-0 triumph on 23 May), there have been 12 draws (a 1-1 in 2020/21 the last) and the visitors have emerged victorious on five occasions (most recently a 1-0 victory in 2019/20).
COACHES
Antonio Conte has won five Serie A titles as a coach (three with Juventus, one with Inter and one with Napoli) and two of those were sealed against Cagliari (both 2-0 wins): in 2011/12 and in 2024/25.
Cagliari boss Fabio Pisacane is a Neapolitan himself. As a player he faced his hometown club at the Maradona three times, all with Cagliari, winning once and losing twice.
Form and tactics
Conte's men kicked off the season with a 2-0 win at Sassuolo courtesy of goals by Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne. The Scottish midfielder had three shots and attempted four dribbles (the most of any Napoli player in both cases) while the Belgian played three key passes (more than any team-mate) during the game.
CAGLIARI FLOOD THE MIDFIELD
Pisacane's men meanwhile earned a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina and did so by nullifying Fiorentina's attacking play. They flooded the central areas and thus cut off the supply to the Viola's beacon, Albert Gudmundsson
One statistic which shows how hard Cagliari worked off the ball is that Fiorentina made 241 passes in their own half (the sixth most on the opening day) but only 124 in Cagliari's half (tenth).
RUNS FROM DEEP
Napoli could take inspiration from Rolando Mandragora's strike for the Viola and seek to exploit the midfielders' runs from deep. Cagliari meanwhile should beware of crosses from the wide areas as they afforded Stefano Pioli's men two successful crosses from six attempted, putting them third in percentage terms for most successful crosses conceded in on the opening weekend.
The Serie A Matchday 2 fixture, which will be officiated by Kevin Bonacina, kicks off at 20:45 on Saturday evening.
* Stats by Kama.Sport
