Napoli Under‑19 suffered a crushing defeat against Villarreal in the UEFA Youth League group stage. The match, played at the Mini Estadi de la Ciudad Deportiva, ended with a result of 5‑0 in favor of the Spaniards, led by former Azzurri goalkeeper coach Pepe Reina. The victory left the Napoli "babies" with zero points after two days, made worse by the draw against Arsenal in the previous match.
The opening goal came 6 minutes into the game, when Martinez used a low pass from Rodríguez's flag to score from the left. Shortly after, Garcia Palomar scored a poker of goals: the first was scored in the 15th minute of the first half thanks to a cross from Martinez, while the next three came in the second half, with the penultimate assisted by Villarreal's number 10. Despite the marked superiority, Napoli had to go back to ten men just before the break, when the referee showed a red card to Zappala for an involuntary slap to the face of an opponent. The sanction was considered excessive, since the contact occurred during a counterattack on the right wing and there was no malice on the part of the young defender.
With the defeat, Napoli Under‑19 is now in a precarious position in the league table, with the aim of recovering points in the remaining group matches. The club hopes to find a tactical solution for the upcoming matches, while Villarreal continues to consolidate their position as favorites in the competition. Napoli's next match will be against Allegri's men, who will have to face the pressure of recovering the table in a crucial phase of the Youth League.