Villarreal 3-1 Napoli: comeback built on new faces, not the old balance

Villarreal beat Napoli 3-1 at the Estadio de la Cerámica on 13 October, their first win of this Champions League campaign, and the scoreline tells a simpler story than the night did. Napoli led inside eight minutes through Amir Rrahmani. Georges Mikautadze equalised on 23 minutes, Santiago Mouriño made it 2-1 three minutes later, and Tani Oluwaseyi finished it on 86 minutes. Villarreal now have three points from two league-phase matches; Napoli, beaten 1-0 at home by Arsenal on the opening night, have none.

The result matters beyond the table because of who was missing and who delivered. Villarreal's goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi, signed from RB Leipzig in August, did not play after an armed home invasion at his house overnight from Monday to Tuesday. Luiz Júnior started instead.

Napoli generated the better chance volume. They finished with 1.70 expected goals to Villarreal's 1.24, and three big chances to Villarreal's two. Possession was close — 52 per cent to Villarreal, 48 to Napoli — and corners were level at four each.

Villarreal scored 1.76 goals above their expected goals here, against an average of 0.0 across their earlier 2026/2027 matches in all competitions. Their xG of 1.24 was well down on the 2.28 they had averaged across those earlier games, and their open-play xG of 1.02 was down on an average of 1.77.

Mikautadze's equaliser came from a loose Matteo Politano pass, which he intercepted before rounding Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and passing into an empty net from a tight angle. Mouriño scored three minutes later. Oluwaseyi's third arrived late.

Under Marcelino García in 2025/2026, Villarreal took 1.89 points per game across 38 LaLiga matches, with 22 wins, six draws and ten defeats. Under Iñigo Pérez in 2026/2027 so far, that figure is 1.0 points per game over eight games, from two wins, two draws and four defeats.

Villarreal's signings since the summer include Nathan Saliba, Gulácsi, Alex Freeman and Thiago Fernández. Gulácsi was absent for reasons entirely outside football.

Napoli have their own disruption. They lost their opener to Arsenal and were without several players for this one, with Scott McTominay making his first start five weeks after heart surgery.

For Villarreal, the win is real and the three points are real. But the chance volume belonged to Napoli, the xG belonged to Napoli, and the goals belonged to Villarreal.