Napoli thump Ajax as dream campaign continues while Barcelona place in Champions League under threat after Inter loss
SERIE A table-toppers Napoli confirmed themselves as the dark horses in the Champions League with a barnstorming 6-1 win away at Ajax.
The Italian club are unbeaten in the league, collecting 20 points from an available 24.
And they’ve carried their domestic form into Europe.
Napoli kick-started their Champions League group stage off with a 4-1 win over last season’s finalists Liverpool.
They then followed that up with a 3-0 win at Ibrox against Rangers.
And they smashed SIX past their final group opponents, Ajax, in their own back yard.
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Mohammed Kudus opened the scoring inside ten minutes, getting the home side off to a dream start.
However, it sparked life into Napoli, who proceeded to score three before half-time.
Giacomo Raspadori, who sank England for Italy in the last international break, pulled the visitors level.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo then put Napoli ahead, and Piotr Zielinski struck just before half-time.
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Raspadori grabbed his second after the restart and wonderkid Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added a fifth.
And to make matters worse, Dusan Tadic received two yellow cards, forcing Ajax to see the game out with ten men.
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone’s son, Giovanni, was then called off the bench and made an instant impact, scoring Napoli’s sixth and 13th in three Champions League games.
The win keeps Napoli top of their group with Liverpool trailing just behind on six points, following a 2-0 home win over Rangers.
Champions League round-up
Elsewhere, Barcelona’s Champions League campaign is in limbo for the second season running.
The Catalan giants fell to a 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan at the San Siro.
Hakan Calhanoglu netted the only goal of the game and with three games left in the group, Barca still need to play Bayern Munich again, who made light work of them last month.
Bayern are running away with Group C.
The German champions beat Viktoria Plzen 5-0, maintaining their 100 per cent record.
Bayern are also yet to concede, leaving Inter and Barca fighting it out for the last knockout spot.
Europa League holders Eintracht Frankfurt kept their knockout hopes alive after holding Tottenham to a 0-0 draw.
Sporting Lisbon are edging Group D, but fell to a 4-1 defeat against Marseille, meaning there’s just three points between 1st and 4th.
Group D saw the biggest shocks of the night.
Atletico suffered defeat to Club Brugge, losing 2-0, placing them rock bottom.
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And Porto beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to put them level on points with Atletico and Porto.
Club Brugge’s 100 per cent start has them in good standing to reach the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in nearly 45 years.