Kalidou Koulibaly healthy, available against Slovan Bratislava

Napoli had a bit of a scare over the weekend, when Kalidou Koulibaly had to leave training with an ankle injury that, at first, was feared to be serious. Fortunately, scans revealed the injury to just be a bad bruise, so the fears of a long-term absence for the rock of Napoli's defense are quieted.

The injury likely would have cost Koulibaly the ability to play against Empoli this weekend, but it's a match he would have missed anyways as he was suspended after being sent off against Sampdoria. According to reports in Naples, though, he should be good to go against Slovan Bratislava on Thursday as Napoli look to close out their Europa League campaign with a win and first place in the group.

We saw on Sunday how the defense can be without Koulibaly: scattered and disorganized. Both Raul Albiol and Henrique Buss have a tendency to go on walkabout and not stay where they should be. When someone like Koulibaly, who keeps disciplined and covers well for others, is in the lineup, having one of those two wandering around isn't so bad. When Koulibaly isn't there, though, and the other two are on their own, chaos ensues.

With Napoli needing a win to ensure that they take the top spot in the group and avoid the teams dropping out of the Champions League in the first Europa knockout round, that means a healthy Koulibaly is a must. Him being in the lineup makes it more likely that Napoli can pull off the result that they need, so hearing that he's healthy is a huge boost for the club this week.