Napoli vs Union Berlin match facts

Napoli will look to cement second place in UEFA Champions League Group C as they welcome the section's bottom side, Union Berlin, to Italy with the visitors still looking for their first point in the competition.

The Italian champions were 1-0 winners at the Olympiastadion on Matchday 3 thanks to a 65th-minute strike from Giacomo Raspadori – their fourth successive win and clean sheet against German opponents.

Napoli had lost 3-2 at home to Real Madrid on Matchday 2 having kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win at Braga. Union, meanwhile, conceded in added time to lose both 1-0 at Madrid on Matchday 1 and 3-2 at home to Braga – letting slip a two-goal lead in the latter fixture.

The Matchday 3 fixture was the sides' first meeting, and Union's first game against an Italian side.

Form guide

Napoli

Record vs German teams: W9 D5 L9 F37 A35
Home record vs German teams: W5 D2 L4

Napoli faced German opponents in last season's round of 16, goals from Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo securing a 2-0 first-leg win at Eintracht Frankfurt before Osimhen scored twice in a 3-0 victory in Naples, Piotr Zieliński completing the win from the penalty spot.

The Matchday 3 win in Berlin made it four successive victories against Bundesliga clubs with eight goals scored and none conceded.

Last season's win against Frankfurt was only Napoli's second in their last seven games against German clubs in Naples (D2 L3).

This is Napoli's eighth Champions League group appearance overall, and a sixth in the past eight seasons.

The 2022/23 campaign proved to be the Italian side's most successful in their European Cup history, Napoli finishing top of Group A ahead of Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers and beating UEFA Europa League holders Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16 (2-0 a, 3-0 h). However, AC Milan ended their run in an all-Italian quarter-final (0-1 a, 1-1 h).

Last season was the first time Napoli had won a Champions League knockout tie, at the fourth attempt.

The Matchday 2 defeat by Madrid ended the Italian side's 13-match unbeaten run in home Champions League games (W9 D4), since a 4-2 defeat by Manchester City on Matchday 4 in 2017/18.

Napoli have won eight of their last ten Champions League group stage matches (L2).

The Partenopei captured their third Italian league title, and a first since 1990, last season, finishing 16 points clear at the top of Serie A.

Championship-winning coach Luciano Spalletti stepped down in the summer, Napoli naming former Roma coach Rudi Garcia as his replacement.

Union Berlin

Union earned their European Cup debut by finishing fourth in the Bundesliga in 2022/23 – their highest league position.

Union and Antwerp in Group H are the only clubs to be making their first Champions League group appearance in 2022/23.

This is Union's third successive season in UEFA competition and just their fourth overall.

Having reached the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in 2021/22, their first continental campaign in 20 years, Die Eisernen took part in the Europa League group stage in 2022/23. Second in their section behind Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise, they impressively eliminated Ajax in the knockout round play-offs (0-0 a, 3-1 h) only to lose their last-16 reunion with Union SG (3-3 h, 0-3 a).

Union won two of their five away European matches in 2022/23 (D1 L2). That doubled their total number of away victories overall to four (D3 L5).

Urs Fischer's side collected 62 points in the 2022/23 Bundesliga, nine behind champions Bayern München.

Links and trivia

Union defender Leonardo Bonucci won eight Serie A titles with Juventus between 2010 and moving to Germany this summer, also adding four Coppa Italias and reaching the Champions League final in 2015 and 2017. He made his only Serie A appearance for Inter Milan as a late substitute on the final day of their 2005/06 title-winning campaign and had spells at Treviso (2007–09) and Pisa (2009) before joining Bari in 2009. He spent 2017/18 at AC Milan.

Bonucci was part of Italy's victorious UEFA EURO 2020 squad alongside Napoli defender Di Lorenzo.

Robin Gosens played in Serie A for Atalanta (2017-22) and Inter (2022/23)

András Schäfer had spells with Italian clubs Genoa (2018/19) and Chievo (2019/20 loan) but never played for either first team.

Have played in Germany:
Diego Demme (Arminia Bielefeld 2008–10, Paderborn 2012–14, Leipzig 2014–20)
Victor Osimhen (Wolfsburg 2017/18)
Jesper Lindstrøm (Eintracht Frankfurt 2021–23)
Leo Skiri Østigård (St. Pauli 2019/20)

Lindstrøm scored Frankfurt's second goal past Frederik Rønnow in a 2-0 away Bundesliga win on 1 October 2022.

Have played together:
Victor Osimhen & Robin Knoche (Wolfsburg 2017/18)

International team-mates:
Jesper Lindstrøm & Frederik Rønnow (Denmark)

Lucas Tousart scored past Alex Meret as France beat Italy 4-0 in the 2016 UEFA Under-19 European Championship final.

Latest news

Napoli

On Saturday Napoli were 2-0 winners at Salernitana thanks to Giacomo Raspadori scoring for the third successive game in all competitions and a first club strike since 12 February from substitute Eljif Elmas.

It is the first time Raspadori has found the net in three matches in a row.

Napoli recovered from 0-2 down at home to Milan on 29 October to earn a point courtesy of second-half goals by Matteo Politano and Raspadori.

Raspadori's goal was the first from a direct free-kick in Serie A this season. It was his second goal of the campaign, equalling the total for the whole of 2022/23, a mark he eclipsed on Saturday.

Politano has five goals in Serie A this term; he has scored more in a season only twice during his time in Serie A, registering ten with Sassuolo in 2017/18 and nine for Napoli in 2020/21.

Napoli have now won three of their last six games in all competitions, losing two.

The Naples club have 21 points after 11 Serie A matches this season, eight less than at the same stage of 2022/23.

Victor Osimhen has not played since 13 October after suffering a thigh injury on international duty with Nigeria.

Juan Jesus has not played since 24 September, also because of a thigh problem, although he was an unused substitute at the weekend.

André-Frank Zambo Anguissa played 13 minutes against Milan after recovering from a thigh injury of his own. He played 90 minutes on Saturday.

Stanislav Lobotka was on target in Slovakia's 3-2 UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying defeat against Portugal on 13 October.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in both Georgia's 8-0 friendly victory against Thailand on 12 October and the 4-0 UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying win against Cyprus three days later.

Left-back Mathías Olivera scored for Uruguay in a 2-2 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw against Colombia on 12 October.

On 30 October Osimhen finished eighth in the vote for the the Ballon d'Or with Kvaratskhelia 17th.

Napoli will be at home to Frosinone in the last 16 of the Coppa Italia on 19 December.

Union Berlin

Union have lost their last 12 games, their longest run of defeats in professional football. They went down 3-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, conceding twice in the first 14 minutes.

The Berlin club have not scored in five matches and have managed only five goals in that 12-match losing run.

They were beaten 1-0 at Stuttgart in the German Cup second round on 31 October.

A 2-0 defeat at Werder Bremen three days earlier was Union's seventh successive Bundesliga reverse after two wins at the start of the season.

Robin Knoche scored an own goal in Bremen, Rani Khedira was sent off on the hour.

Union started the new season with a 4-1 win against Mainz on 20 August. Kevin Behrens scored three headers, the first player to do so in the Bundesliga since Markus Schroth for Karlsruhe in 1997.

On 3 September Urs Fischer's team lost 3-0 at home against Leipzig. Kevin Volland was sent off in the second half of what was his full Union debut and 250th Bundesliga appearance.

Before losing to Leipzig, Union were unbeaten at home in 24 Bundesliga games (W16 D8) – a club record. They have now suffered four home league defeats in a row.

Janik Haberer missed the cup defeat in Stuttgart due to illness, returning as a substitute on Saturday.

Danilho Doekhi suffered a knock in the home defeat by Napoli and has missed the last three matches.

Josip Juranović has been out since 15 October with a muscle injury.

Laurenz Dehl had not played since 19 August due to an Achilles tendon problem, although he was an unused substitute against Napoli.

András Schäfer has been out since mid-May due to a foot injury that required surgery.

On 7 August, Fischer was voted coach of the year in Germany.