Chelsea Provide Update on Two Fans Stabbed Before Napoli Clash

The Blues urged “extreme caution” ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match.

Chelsea face Napoli in Italy on Wednesday. | Adrian DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

Chelsea have released a statement revealing that the two fans attacked in Naples ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Napoli are being treated in hospital for “non-life threatening injuries.”

The Blues face the champions of Italy at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium at 9 p.m. local time in their final fixture of the league phase. Fans from the London-based club had already flocked to the southern city ahead of the fixture. After reports emerged of the assault on two supporters on Tuesday evening, Chelsea were forced to issue a public address.

“The club is aware of an incident that took place on Tuesday evening in Naples,” a brief statement read. Two fans are being treated in hospital, having sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

“The club would like to remind all supporters to exercise extreme caution whilst in the city and take note of the advice shared ahead of this fixture.”

The Guardian cited reports from Chelsea fans in Naples claiming that a group of the club’s organised fanbase were armed with knives when faced with supporters of the Premier League club.

Napoli are yet to comment on the incident.

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Antonio Conte will relish Wednesday’s occasion. | Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Chelsea have only once before faced Napoli in Italy. It would prove to be André Villas-Boas’s final European match as manager of the Blues, with the 3–1 defeat in the first leg of the last-16 tie accelerating his dismissal. When Napoli travelled to Stamford Bridge for the second leg, Roberto Di Matteo was at the helm to oversee an unlikely comeback. Chelsea would go on to win the 2011–12 Champions League title that year.

Wednesday’s clash threatened to be just as tantalising. While Chelsea’s place in the last 16 is dependent upon a positive result, Napoli are fighting to even make it into the next round.

An added layer of intrigue is provided by the familiar faces which await Chelsea at the Maradona. Former Blues No. 9 Romelu Lukaku has returned to fitness in time for this reunion which will be spearheaded by ex-Chelsea manager Antonio Conte. The Italian tactician left west London under a cloud in 2018 despite winning the Premier League and FA Cup across his two seasons in England.

“Chelsea are a club I know very well,” Conte said in preview of the midweek match. “Having been there, I understand their mentality, the investment and the ambition they always have. The fact they’re the reigning Club [World Cup] champions says a lot.”

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