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The San Paolo is playing host to a huge match on Wednesday, and the partenopei faithful are treating the game with all the importance it carries. When Napoli take on OGC Nice in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie, more than 55,000 fans will pack the Stadio San Paolo to cheer them on.
That’s a near-capacity crowd for Napoli’s home stadium, nearly matching the more than 56,000 attendees for last season’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, and bettering last year’s nearly 54,000 tickets sold for the Serie A match against Juventus.
We’ve all seen the kinds of performances Napoli’s fans can propel the team to when it matters most, so knowing that the stadium will be full to bursting is a great sign for Napoli to kick off this vital tie with. Fans and players alike know that Napoli have to win this match heavily in order to put themselves in a good position to advance to the Champions League proper and the group stage, so we should expect to see the fans absolutely rocking in the stands and the players doing everything they can to feed off that energy.
It’s going to be a long and exciting day. Hopefully it’s a triumphant one as well, because those 55,000 faithful and the hundreds of thousands more watching from around the world all deserve that joy.