Paris v Napoli background

Having got their Group C campaign back on track in emphatic style on matchday two, Paris Saint-Germain will again be looking to make the most of home advantage when Napoli visit the Parc des Princes, although they will need to improve on a poor record against Italian clubs.

• The French champions are third in the section on three points, but are just one behind their Italian opponents, who are the only side in Group C still unbeaten after the first two rounds of fixtures.

Previous meetings
• The sides' only past contests came in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup second round, when Paris won the first leg 2-0 in Naples, George Weah scoring twice in the first half. Those goals proved to be the only ones in the tie, a goalless second leg at the Parc des Princes securing a place in the third round for Paris, who would lose to eventual winners Juventus in the semi-finals.

Form guide
Paris
• Beaten 3-2 at Liverpool on matchday one – the club's third successive away defeat in Europe – Thomas Tuchel's side bounced back with a 6-1 defeat of debutants Crvena zvezda in their second fixture, Neymar scoring a hat-trick. With eight goals, they are the joint top scorers in the competition alongside Barcelona.

• Ligue 1 champions for the fifth time in six years in 2017/18, and seventh time overall, this is the French side's seventh successive UEFA Champions League campaign.

• Semi-finalists in 1995, Paris have been knocked out in the round of 16 in the last two seasons – having been eliminated in the quarter-finals in the four previous campaigns.

• Paris have scored in their last 18 UEFA Champions League games.

• The Parisian club have lost only two of their last 48 European home games since crashing 4-2 to Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage (W31 D15) – they went down 3-1 to Barcelona in the 2014/15 quarter-finals and 2-1 against Real Madrid in last season's round of 16 second leg.

• Before beating Crvena zvezda, Paris had lost four European matches in a row – the worst run in their history – during which they conceded 11 goals.

• Paris are without a win in their last three home matches against Italian sides (D2 L1), drawing the last two. Indeed, the 3-1 win against Parma in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final second leg is their sole home success in nine matches with Serie A sides (D4 L4).

• The French title-holders have won only two of their 18 games against Italian clubs, home and away (D7 L9).

• The Ligue 1 side scored 25 goals in the 2017/18 group stage, a UEFA Champions League record.

Napoli
• Having been held 0-0 at Crvena zvezda in their opening fixture, a 90th-minute goal from Lorenzo Insigne earned Napoli a 1-0 win against last season's finalists Liverpool last time out – and took Carlo Ancelotti's side to the top of Group C.

• Serie A runners-up in 2017/18, Napoli are in the group stage for the fifth time – all in the last eight seasons. They reached the round of 16 in 2011/12 and 2016/17.

• The Italian club finished third in their section last season – winning two of their three home matches and losing the other – and went on to the UEFA Europa League round of 32, where they lost to RB Leipzig.

• Napoli have won on three of their five trips to France (D1 L1), including the last two – most recently a 2-0 success at Nice in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (4-0 aggregate).

• Napoli had lost their last four away matches in the UEFA Champions League proper before drawing on matchday one; they had won two of their previous three before the current run of five matches without a victory.

Links and trivia
• Carlo Ancelotti was Paris coach between 2011 and 2013, winning the Ligue 1 title in 2012/13.

• Ángel Di María and Ancelotti won the UEFA Champions League together at Real Madrid in 2013/14.

• Ancelotti was Gianluigi Buffon's coach at Parma between 1996 and 1998.

• Edinson Cavani scored 78 goals in 104 Serie A appearances for Napoli between 2010 and 2013 before moving to Paris, winning the Coppa Italia in 2011/12.

• Have also played in Italy:
Gianluigi Buffon (Parma 1995–2001, Juventus 2001–18)
Thiago Silva (AC Milan 2009–12)
Marquinhos (AS Roma 2012–13)
Dani Alves (Juventus 2016/17)
Marco Verratti (Pescara 2008–12)

• Have played in France:
David Ospina (Nice, 2008–14)
Kévin Malcuit (Monaco 2010–12, Vannes 2012, Fréjus 2012–14, Niort 2014–15, Saint-Étienne 2015–17, LOSC Lille 2017/18)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Metz 2010–12)
Faouzi Ghoulam (Saint-Étienne 2010–14)
Adam Ounas (Bordeaux 2015–17)

• Have played together:
Lassana Diarra, Ángel Di María & José Callejón, Raúl Albiol (Real Madrid 2011–13)
Thiago Silva & Simone Verdi (Milan 2009–11)

• International team-mates:
Thomas Meunier & Dries Mertens (Belgium)
Juan Bernat & José Callejón (Spain)
Gianluigi Buffon, Marco Verratti & Simone Verdi, Lorenzo Insigne (Italy)
Julian Draxler & Amin Younes (Germany)

Latest news

Paris 
• Neymar's next UEFA Champions League appearance will be his 50th – and his 50th game in UEFA club competition.

• Having failed to win any of their last four Ligue 1 games in 2017/18 (D3 L1), Paris have kicked off the new campaign with ten straight wins – a Ligue 1 record, surpassing Olympique Lillois' eight successive victories at the start of 1936/37.

• Paris have scored 37 goals in Ligue 1 this season, managing three goals at least in each of their ten games. They were 5-0 winners at home to Amiens on Saturday.

• On 7 October Kylian Mbappé became the youngest player to score four goals in a Ligue 1 game as Paris defeated Lyon 5-0, hitting four in a 14-minute burst – another record.

• Mbappé has nine goals in six Ligue 1 appearances this season, while Neymar has eight goals in his eight league appearances.

• On 11 October Mbappé became the first teenager to score ten goals for France with a late penalty equaliser in a 2-2 friendly draw against Iceland in Guingamp.

• Marco Verratti was withdrawn at half-time on Saturday with a reported hamstring injury.

• Dani Alves (right knee) and Layvin Kurzawa (back) are yet to play this season, although the former returned to training on 11 September.

• Paris won the Trophée des Champions for the sixth year in a row and eighth overall with a 4-0 defeat of Monaco on 4 August. Ángel Di María scored twice, Christopher Nkunku and Timothy Weah getting the other goals.

Napoli
• Under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, Napoli have won seven of their first nine Serie A games this season, the exceptions a 3-0 loss at Sampdoria on 2 September and the 3-1 defeat at Juventus on 29 September.

• The Naples side won 3-0 at Udinese on Saturday evening, Fabián Ruiz scoring his first goal for the club and Marko Rog finding the net for the first time since August 2017.

• Napoli have won all five home games in all competitions this season, keeping clean sheets in the last four; they have managed three away wins in their six fixtures and two clean sheets.

• Having not kept a clean sheet in their first three games this season, the Partenopei have managed six in their last eight matches in all competitions.

• Lorenzo Insigne has already scored six goals in Serie A this season; he managed eight in the whole of 2017/18.

• Adam Ounas scored his first Napoli goal in the 2-0 defeat of Sassuolo on 7 October.

• Insigne helped Italy win 1-0 away to a Poland side featuring club-mates Arkadiusz Milik and Piotr Zieliński in the UEFA Nations League on 14 October, a result that relegated Poland from League A.

• Marek Hamšík became Slovakia's most capped player in the 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic on 13 October, marking his 108th international appearance with his 22nd goal – one short of Róbert Vittek's national record.

• Dries Mertens, who got Napoli's second in the Udinese win at the weekend, scored a fine goal as Belgium drew 1-1 with the Netherlands on 16 October.

• Simone Verdi had to be replaced after four minutes against Udinese with a thigh injury. Insigne and Adam Ounas were left out as a precaution with both recovering from similar problems.

• Kalidou Koulibaly left the Senegal camp during the international break with a minor muscle problem, but played 90 minutes on Saturday.

• Goalkeeper Alex Meret broke his arm soon after joining Napoli this summer but is close to a return to action, while Faouzi Ghoulam underwent knee surgery in July having not played since 1 November 2017.

• New signing Amin Younes has had an operation on a ruptured Achilles tendon; Vlad Chiricheş ruptured the cruciate ligament in his left knee in Romania's game against Montenegro on 7 September.