Napoli v Chelsea, Getty Images January 29, 2026, 12:08 a.m

In the final round of the UEFA Champions League, in particular, such teams crossed each other, which could not harm each other in the standings, but at the same time, both had ambitions to finish one rank higher than the places where they met at the beginning of this game day. For example, Italy’s Napoli have made themselves to such a state that only success in the home game against London’s Chelsea could allow Antonio Conte’s team to jump into the upcoming play-offs, while Liam Rosenior’s team could find themselves in the top eight if they won.

Accordingly, a tense match at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium under such conditions was virtually guaranteed. And it began with the attempts of the “pensioners” to immediately impose their football on the opponents. And it must be said that Chelsea managed to do it quite confidently, and already in the 17th minute, an inexplicable hand movement from Jesus during an attempt to block a free kick from James in the wall turned into a penalty for the home team.

Enzo executed the penalty with a shot into the bottom left corner, after which it was Napoli’s turn to attack in this game. Chelsea perhaps allowed the opposition to keep the ball too much in the attacking phase, which ultimately paid the price with a conceded goal in the 33rd minute, which is anything other than a masterpiece from Vergara. The club’s protege and native of Naples flicked a free-kick past Caicedo on the left wing before firing a low shot into the far corner.

And already under the curtain of the first half, Moises was again in the epicenter of our attention near his own goal, and clearly not for a good reason. He set up Goilunna at close range to finish Olivera’s cross from the left wing, so Napoli went into the break with a very favorable score. And he might not have gone if Pedro had headed a feed from the left wing from Netu in the final seconds of the first half.

On the other hand, Juan was already in the second half of the game, when he was found twice near the penalty area by Palmer with passes from deep, and if in the first case it was just a crazy shot to the upper right corner, then in the 82nd minute the Brazilian already hit the opposite side of the foreign goal with a rather crumpled low kick, but he still hit it.

And when the “Partenopei” simply ran forward to score at least something, then Lukaku, who finally returned to the game and in front of the home fans, wasted an excellent opportunity in front of the foreign goal in the compensated time.

As a result, the Italian Napoli with eight points took the 30th place and completed the performances in the UEFA Champions League, while the London Chelsea with 16 points took the sixth place and will immediately play in the 1/8 finals.