Napoli v FC Barcelona: toughest test yet

Barcelona (FCB).- Napoli and Barça feature in one of the pre-season’s most attractive friendlies this Wednesday evening in Geneva (8PM CET). Luis Enrique’s side are in the middle of  their pre- season preparations and after Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Nice, they fly to Helsinki on Saturday, just 72 hours after facing the Italians, for their third friendly in a week.Adriano, Xavi, Mathieu and Patric all miss the Geneva trip to play against Napoli as do Messi, Neymar, Mascherano and Alves.

22 travel to Switzerland

With Messi, Mascherano, Alves and Neymar only arriving in Barcelona on Tuesday and Xavi, Mathieu, Adriano and Patric not fully fit, Luis Enrique has called up 22 players for the game – 14 from the first team squad and 8 from Barça B.

As usual in a pre-season friendly, Barça will probably play two separate teams , one each half, with only keepers Masip or Bravo (who could make his Club debut) likely to play the full 90 minutes as Ter Stegan did in Nice.

Napoli preparing for UCL play offs

The game will be Napoli’s fourth pre-season game as they prepare for the qualifying round of the Champions League in a fortnight’s time. Rafa Benítez, who took his team to a third place spot, as well as winning the Italian Cup last season, may well give new signings Koulibaly and Michu a run out and has not ruled out giving a few minutes to Higuian, who’s just returned from holidays after the World Cup.