Napoli go to FC Porto on Wednesday with David Neres and Alisson Santos ruled out, while the rest of the availability picture is still shifting. Stanislav Lobotka faces about six weeks out, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mathías Olivera are expected to be absent after returning for diagnostic checks. Napoli will go to FC Porto vs Napoli with more uncertainty than they would want at this stage of the Champions League campaign.

Napoli's availability problems

Massimiliano Allegri told A Bola that “David Neres, former Benfica player, and Alisson Santos, former Sporting player, will not recover in time for Wednesday's duel.” That leaves Napoli without two attackers for a trip that already carried weight.

The wider issue is the midfield and defensive cover around them. Lobotka has made 9 Serie A appearances this season, and he has already played 3 Champions League matches. Losing him for about six weeks would take away one of the regular options in the middle, while Di Lorenzo and Olivera are also likely to sit this one out.

Napoli’s league-phase record is 1-0-2, with 3 points from 3 matches. They sit 22nd in the table, so this is not the week for a stretched squad to get thinner.

What Porto's situation changes

Porto are hardly in a relaxed position themselves. They are 34th in the Champions League league phase, third from bottom, and have taken 0 points from 3 matches after losses to Manchester City, Betis and PSV Eindhoven.

Their domestic form is a different story. Porto beat Estoril 4-0 on Saturday and have won their last five games in all competitions, so they arrive with momentum even if the European record is ugly.

UEFA said Michael Oliver will referee a game involving the blue and whites in the Champions League for the third time. The assignment adds another familiar layer to a fixture that already has enough on it without Napoli's injury list growing by the day.

The important detail is still the same one, though. Napoli travel to Porto short of Neres and Alisson Santos, with Lobotka, Di Lorenzo and Olivera also in doubt or out, and the medical updates are likely to matter more than any pre-match talk before the game on Wednesday.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →