{"id":459881,"date":"2025-04-18T13:14:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T09:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T07:08:53","slug":"match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/en\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Match preview | Opta Focus on Monza v Napoli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monza: a look at our next opponents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Antonio Conte\u2019s Napoli head to Monza in search of a crucial away win, hoping to temporarily catch league leaders Inter before they travel to Bologna on Sunday. The memories are still fresh from the last meeting at the U-Power Stadium on 7 April 2024. Back then, after Milan Djuric gave Monza the lead in the first half, Napoli turned the match on its head in just six second-half minutes with goals by Victor Osimhen, Matteo Politano and Piotr Zielinski. Andrea Colpani pulled one back for Monza, but Giacomo Raspadori restored the two-goal cushion just 32 seconds after coming off the bench in the 68th minute, sealing a 4\u20132 win for Francesco Calzona\u2019s side. Much has changed since that Week 31 fixture last season. On one side, Napoli remain in the hunt for top spot. On the other, Alessandro Nesta\u2019s Monza are fighting to stay up and will be out to show pride and keep survival hopes alive. Monza can rely on history and home advantage at the U-Power, which has often proved a tricky ground for top sides. In the last three Serie A seasons, Monza have gone unbeaten in 18 matches against teams who started the day in the top 10 \u2014 11 of those at home, yielding five wins (including a 2\u20130 victory over Napoli on 14 May 2023) and six draws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monza: speed out wide and direct play<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It will not be easy for Alessandro Nesta\u2019s side to break down Napoli\u2019s defence, the tightest in the league with just 25 goals conceded. Monza could pose a threat from wide areas, as they often push forward with their wing-backs to stretch the play and flood the opposition box. The visitors have delivered 416 open-play crosses this season (compared to Napoli\u2019s 388), and 30 different Monza players have touched the ball at least once inside the opposition\u2019s final third \u2013 a league-high shared with Milan and Como. In the build-up phase, Monza favour direct passes, which have directly led to four goals, one more than Napoli. Only five sides have scored more from this scenario (Como, Fiorentina, Cagliari, Juventus and Atalanta). Despite being the league\u2019s joint-third lowest-scoring side in 2024\/25 with 25 goals (alongside Venezia), Monza rank third for converting big chances: 43%, behind only Inter (45%) and Napoli, who top the charts with 48%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dany Mota: Nesta\u2019s wild card<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of Nesta\u2019s key weapons against Napoli will likely be Dany Mota. The Portuguese forward has been involved in 28% of Monza\u2019s goals this season (seven in total: five goals and two assists), the highest contribution in the squad. A goal against Napoli would give him a new personal best for goals in a single Serie A season (currently level with his 2022\/23 tally of five) and mark the first time he\u2019s scored more than once against a single opponent in the league, having already netted against Napoli at the U-Power Stadium on 14 May 2023. In Monza\u2019s 3-5-2 system, Gianluca Caprari is expected to partner Mota up front. Caprari has scored two of his three Serie A goals against Napoli in home games, one for Pescara in August 2016 and one for Parma in July 2020. While he has come off the bench in each of the last six league games, both his goals this season have come as a starter, with the latest coming at home to Cagliari in January. Monza will also aim to trouble Napoli with deliveries from wide areas. On the right, Samuele Birindelli \u2013 with two goals in 15 appearances this season (matching his tally from his previous 66 games in Serie A) \u2013 and on the left, Georgios Kyriakopoulos, one of just eight defenders to have hit 100 open-play crosses this campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Article by the Opta editorial team<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monza: a look at our next opponents Antonio Conte\u2019s Napoli head to Monza in search of a crucial away win, hoping to temporarily catch league leaders Inter before they travel to Bologna on Sunday. The memories are still fresh from the last meeting at the U-Power Stadium on 7 April 2024. Back then, after Milan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197618,"featured_media":459738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[460],"tags":[590],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMatch preview | Opta Focus on Monza v Napoli - SSC Napoli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Monza: a look at our next opponents Antonio Conte\u2019s Napoli head to Monza in search of a crucial away win, hoping to temporarily catch league leaders Inter be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/en\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Match preview | Opta Focus on Monza v Napoli - SSC Napoli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Monza: a look at our next opponents Antonio Conte\u2019s Napoli head to Monza in search of a crucial away win, hoping to temporarily catch league leaders Inter before they travel to Bologna on Sunday. The memories are still fresh from the last meeting at the U-Power Stadium on 7 April 2024. Back then, after Milan […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/en\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SSC Napoli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SSCNapoli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T11:14:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-19T07:08:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.sscnapoli.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/orizz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Giuseppe Lombardi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SSCNapoli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SSCNapoli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Giuseppe Lombardi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/en\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sscnapoli.it\/en\/match-preview-opta-focus-di-monza-napoli\/\",\"name\":\"Match preview | Opta Focus on Monza v Napoli - 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