UCL | Villarreal 3-1 Napoli: Allegri’s men collapse in Champions League
VILLARREAL, SPAIN - OCTOBER 13: Santiago Mourino of Villarreal CF scores his team’s second goal past goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic of SSC Napoli during the UEFA Champions League 2026/27 League Phase MD2 match between Villarreal CF and SSC Napoli at Estadio de la Ceramica on October 13, 2026 in Villarreal, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Napoli fumbled a lead with Amir Rrahmani and fell apart for a 3-1 Champions League defeat to Villarreal, including a Matteo Politano howler of a back-pass.
The Partenopei lost their opening Champions League fixture 1-0 at home to Arsenal, but were boosted by Saturday’s 3-0 Serie A win over Frosinone. Scott McTominay had his first start five weeks on from heart surgery to correct a mild benign arrhythmia, but Frank Anguissa, Mathias Olivera, Antonio Vergara, Alisson Santos, Costantino Favasuli and Alessandro Buongiorno were out of action. Giovane was added to the UEFA list and thrown straight into the starting XI.
Villarreal lost 3-2 at Borussia Dortmund in Europe and sat 11th in LaLiga going into this game, missing injured Nicolas Pepe and former Inter midfielder Tajon Buchanan. Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi was expected to start, but withdrew from the squad after it was revealed his home was targeted in an armed robbery late last night with his family present.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.
Former Juventus defender Renato Veiga at full stretch prevented the Giovane roll across reaching Rasmus Hojlund, but the opener came soon after.
Kevin De Bruyne’s short corner was floated to the back post by Billy Gilmour, where the Amir Rrahmani header was sensationally palmed onto the underside of the crossbar, but the Napoli defender was ready to turn in the rebound.
Villarreal fought back, as only a desperate Benoit Badiashile deflection stopped Georges Mikautadze drilling in the equaliser from just inside the area, then on the resulting corner Pape Gueye fired inches wide.
There was a frantic 60 seconds of action, as first Rasmus Hojlund saw his header on the Matteo Politano cross bounce off the frame of the goal.
Moments later, Politano’s horrible back-pass was intercepted by Mikautadze, who drew Vanja Milinkovic-Savic out to score from the tightest of angles into the empty net.
The game turned on its head, as then Villarreal went in front with a screamer from distance by Santiago Mourino that flew past Milinkovic-Savic’s fingertips.
It was end to end, with McTominay’s free header flashing just wide, and dangerous counter-attacks from Mikautadze and Politano.
Luiz Junior was very alert after the restart to rush off his line and push the Billy Gilmour through ball off the feet of Hojlund, while Benoit Badiashile made a decisive interception to stop a tap-in from six yards.
Napoli struggled to break Villarreal down in the second half, then failed to make the most of a good situation when playing against nine men for a few minutes over the new delayed substitution rules.
When Luiz Junior fumbled a free kick, Hojlund volleyed the rebound onto his own face, then on another move he dribbled past three only to make the angle too narrow.
De Bruyne’s cross to the back post grazed both the head of Lorenzo Lucca and the studs of Di Lorenzo, but instead Villarreal added a third late on.
Nathan Saliba’s pass found Ayoze Perez, a heavy first touch turned into an accidental assist for Tani Oluwaseyi to sweep in relatively undisturbed.
Rrahmani 8 (N), Mikautadze 23 (V), Mourino 26 (V), Oluwaseyi 86 (V)
1st half
| 8' |  |
Amir Rrahmani | ||
| Georges Mikautadze | 23' | |||
| Santiago Mouriño (Assist: Gerard Moreno) |
26' | |||
| Georges Mikautadze |  |
33' |
2nd half
| 55' | Giovane | |||
| 62' | Kevin De Bruyne | |||
| Nathan Saliba | 67' | |||
| 85' | Giovanni Di Lorenzo | |||
| Tani Oluwaseyi (Assist: Ayoze Pérez) |
86' |
VIL
NAP
1
Goalkeeper
20
Defender
6
Defender
15
Defender
10
Midfielder
68'
24
Midfielder
18
Midfielder
84'
12
Midfielder
14
Midfielder
83'
9
Attacker
63'
7
Attacker
63'
32
Goalkeeper
13
Defender
5
Defender
22
Defender
16
Defender
72'
6
Midfielder
72'
11
Midfielder
8
Midfielder
60'
23
Attacker
60'
21
Attacker
61'
19
Attacker
11
Attacker
2
Defender
5
Midfielder
13
Goalkeeper
16
Midfielder
27
Attacker
28
Attacker
21
Attacker
63'
3
Defender
63'
8
Defender
68'
22
Attacker
83'
23
Defender
84'
1
Goalkeeper
14
Goalkeeper
31
Defender
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