Gennaro Gattuso's Napoli Have All the Tools to Upset Barcelona

European football returned to our screens on Wednesday night in the form of the continent's inferior competition.

There were impressive victories for Shakhtar Donetsk and Copenhagen - who earned the right to get thumped by Manchester United in the last eight over İstanbul Başakşehir - in the earlier set of fixtures before United themselves completed a 7-1 aggregate victory over a hapless LASK, while Inter set aside hierarchical friction to ease past Getafe 2-0.

Another four Europa League fixtures are heading our way on Thursday evening before on Friday, the real sh*t gets underway.

That's right, the Champions League is back, baby!

It's set to be a thrilling conclusion to the competition, with four places in the quarter finals still up for grabs.

One of those four round of 16 ties yet to be decided is Barcelona's clash with Napoli, a tie which, in the eyes of many, is destined for one victor because of the whole 'Barcelona don't lose at the Camp Nou' lark.

Excuse me, have you seen this Barcelona side? This tie, which stands at 1-1 following the first leg in Naples, is anything but decided. In fact, Gennaro Gattuso's Napoli have a fantastic chance of upsetting Quique Setien's vulnerable La Blaugrana outfit when the pair meet for the second time on Saturday night.

When I Partnenopei secured passage into the knockout stages last December, it's fair to say the club was in a state of utter turmoil; Carlo Ancelotti's coaching appeared an era past its expiry date, every player with a bit of ability had their heart set on leaving the club, and president Aurelio De Laurentiis was churning out fines at a frightening rate as part of that whole mutiny thing. It was a civil war.

But after the appointment of former Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso in December, Napoli are certainly back on track. Their post-restart form has been impressive, losing just three of their 12 Serie A encounters, while they were also able to clinch just their third piece of silverware of the 21st century in the form of the Coppa Italia.

Following a disastrous start to his reign which led to reports surfacing of a potential resignation after just a month at the helm, Gattuso has turned it around in style and over the past few months, we've seen 'Rino' - who's always been revered as a fine man-manager - evolve significantly as a tactician, and that's what makes them a tricky proposition for Setien's Barça.

This is a Napoli outfit who boast plenty of tactical flexibility. Not only can they press high to disrupt opponents in the build-up phase, but they also proved during the latter stages of their Coppa Italia run to be able to execute a deep and compact defensive block.

Gattuso's men did a superb job of limiting the space afforded to Lionel Messi in the first encounter via the use of a mightily narrow 4-5-1 shape out of possession, and congesting the areas the Argentine great would typically wreak havoc in - the right half-space. Barcelona's glaring flaws in possession, meanwhile, were laid bare with Messi's impact reduced. They had significant issues with penetrating from out wide - where all the space was - due to a combination of Arturo Vidal's role as a winger and conservative full-back play.

You can expect Gattuso to continue with 4-5-1 defensive shape at the Camp Nou which morphs into 4-3-3 and/or 4-2-3-1 in possession.

When they do have the ball, I Partenepoi primarily use two methods to create space and progress upfield: press-baiting - a concept which involves committing numerous players to the build-up phase in a bid to draw the opposition higher up the pitch and exploit the space which opens up between the lines as a result of an incoherent press - and the up, back and through passing pattern.

They've enjoyed great success against high-pressing sides - most notably Verona and Atalanta who typically man-mark aggressively across the board - as a result of these methods and although Setien's side aren't a relentless pressing outfit, they'll certainly look to win the ball back high up the pitch while Napoli will be seeking to bypass Barça's fierce, but typically disorganised, counter-press and expose their backline in transition.

Speaking of which, Gattuso's certainly blessed with the outlets to cause the hosts serious problems on the break. Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne - who's a doubt for Saturday - and Jose Callejon all showed their capacity to counter effectively against the Catalans in Naples, while Matteo Politano and speed demon Hirving Lozano provide Rino with alternate possibilities.

In Piotr Zielinski - who tends to drop deeper as part of the double pivot when they build in a 4-2-3-1 - and Fabian Ruiz, the Neapolitans also possess two supremely gifted technicians capable of resisting Barça's press and distributing out to their dangerous outlets. Not to mention Kalidou Koulibaly's passing ability either.

What will be interesting, though, is whether the Napoli boss opts for Arkadiusz Milik - a focal point whose movement creates space for teammates - or the counter-attacking threat of Mertens to lead the line.

Nevertheless, there's no doubting what area of the field the visitors should be looking to target in transition: the flanks.

Since his January appointment, Setien has faced plenty of issues in regards to penetration and providing width. Problems he's sought to mitigate by deploying his full-backs - particularly Jordi Alba - higher up the pitch. But as a result of their advanced positioning, teams can exploit the void down the flanks following a swift turnover, with the workload of Barça's interior midfielders to cover their surges overwhelming and the centre-backs forced to cover more ground and defend areas on the pitch they simply don't want to defend. It's an issue - being stable in defensive transition without compromising attacking potency - which pre-dates Setien's arrival.

The Spanish boss is set to deploy a 4-3-1-2 on Saturday after his use of a 3-5-2 was unsuccessful in an inter-club friendly and although Barcelona churned out their most impressive attacking display of the season against Villarreal in this shape, they were thwarted in their next encounter at home to Espanyol - who were wise to Setien's system and made them work incredibly hard for a 1-0 victory as Vicente Moreno utilised a deep 5-3-1-1.

The key for Gattuso will be their ability to protect space in their compact 4-5-1 and limit Messi's impact in a similar manner to the first leg. Due to the narrowness they play with, Barça will likely attempt to create chances via quick switches of play, although they'll also be heavily reliant on Alba's aggressive forays to provide width and challenge the horizontal compactness of the visitors. Thus, leaving Napoli with plenty of chances to break down the flanks swiftly.

This is a tie that's far from over.

With Barcelona's glaring flaws and Napoli's ever-improving tactical nous, the visitors have a great shot at upsetting the Catalans on Saturday night which will likely cost Setien his job.

And who knows, with Gattuso at the helm, Napoli may well have the capacity to send a few more shockwaves through Europe's elite post-Catalunya.