Napoli Reach Champions League Knockouts By Ending Home Hoodoo With Braga Win

Naples, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Dec, 2023) Napoli reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after seeing off Braga 2-0 and ending a home hoodoo which had stretched back more than two months.

The Italian champions qualified second in Group C behind Real Madrid thanks to Serder Saatci's clumsy own goal and Victor Osimhen's first strike since early October, both which came in the first half.

Walter Mazzarri's side would have got through even with a single-goal defeat but in the end comfortably qualified for the next round, snapping a six-match winless streak at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

A first win in Naples since beating Udinese there in late September made sure that Napoli finished the group stage on 10 points, six ahead of Braga who drop down to the Europa League.

"It was our goal to get out of the group, which wasn't easy. I think we can say that we deserved to go through," Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo told Sky.

"We've got a lot of work to do, but we're playing well. It's easy to look at results but the performances have been there."

After three defeats from his first four matches at the helm since returning in place of the sacked Rudi Garcia, Mazzarri had asked for Napoli to be more solid.

And he was satisfied with the way his team dealt with a Braga team who were unbeaten in five coming into the match and are two points behind league leaders Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

"We weren't perfect but compared to how things were... I'm pretty satisfied," said Mazzarri.

"We've started now, let's put it like that. I'm optimistic."

Braga knew that they had to win by at least two goals in order to leapfrog Napoli and Bruma wasted a great chance to put the away side into the lead with just two minutes on the clock, lashing wide from close range after confusion in the Napoli area.