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Napoli v. Porto: Europa League Lineups and Match thread

Don't. Lose.

Your periodic reminder that Alessandro Gamberini used to be a Napoli player.
Your periodic reminder that Alessandro Gamberini used to be a Napoli player.

It's almost time for kickoff, and the terrors have officially set in. Lineups are in, so let's take a look at what we'll be seeing.

Rafa Benitez has found a new way to wedge his new favorite player in to the lineup, with Henrique Buss starting at right back. We saw a little bit of this at the end of the Torino match, and it wasn't completely horrifying, so maybe it can kind of work out. Though his assignment of facing down Ricardo Quaresma won't be an easy one. Benitez has also benched Marek Hamsik and Jose Callejon, starting an attacking mid trio of Lorenzo Insigne, Goran Pandev, and Dries Mertens. Insigne and Mertens have worked well together in such a formation before, and hopefully we'll see more of that today.

Porto had to make significant changes in the face of the injury of Helton and suspension of Alex Sando. Fabiano starts in goal as expected, and Luis Castro has made a bold move of starting right winger Ricardo Pereira at left back, as leaving out center back stalwart Maicon entirely in favor of young Mexican defender Diego Reyes.

Match Preview

Lineups:
Napoli: Reina; Henrique, Fernandez, Albiol, Ghoulam; Inler, Behrami; Mertens, Pandev, Insigne; Higuain
Bench: Colombo, Reveillere, Britos, Callejon, Hamsik, Dzemaili, Duvan Zapata

Porto: Fabiano; Danilo, Mangala, Reyes, Ricardo; Carlos Eduardo, Fernando, Defour; Varela, Martinez, Quaresma
Bench: Kadu, Josue, Herrera, Lica, Agu, Quintero, Ghilas

The match will start shortly at 9:05 PM CET/4:05 PM EST. Television coverage will be on Sky Calcio 2 in Italy and Fox Sports 1 in America. Other live viewing options can be found here (links to illegal streams in the comments will be removed and repeat offenders banned), and as always, you can also follow along with us live on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on the Siren’s Song, and join in the discussion below!