Villarreal 3-1 Napoli: three unanswered goals after Rrahmani's early opener

Napoli's defence scored the opening goal, and Napoli's defence could not stop the other three. Amir Rrahmani put the Italian side ahead inside eight minutes at the Estadio de la Cerámica, but Villarreal responded with three goals in a 23-minute spell either side of half-time, winning 3-1 to leave Napoli without a point from their first two Champions League league-phase matches.

Rrahmani's goal came from a set-piece scramble inside the box, the kind of chance Napoli's centre-backs convert more often than concede. Villarreal levelled through Georges Mikautadze in the 23rd minute and went ahead three minutes later when Santiago Mouriño, set up by Gerard Moreno, made it 2-1. The home side's cushion grew in the 86th minute, substitute Tani Oluwaseyi finishing off a move created by fellow substitute Ayoze Pérez to complete the scoring and leave Napoli chasing shadows for the final stretch.

A third straight defeat in Europe

Napoli opened their Champions League league phase with a 0-1 home defeat to Arsenal, a tight game that did not flatter either side. This one was more porous: three goals conceded inside a single half, with Napoli's back three of Rrahmani, Benoît Badiashile and Rafa Marín stretched repeatedly by Villarreal's front line. Kevin De Bruyne, deployed centrally behind Rasmus Højlund, was booked in the 62nd minute as the Belgian tried and largely failed to find the gaps that had been so easy to come by for Napoli in Serie A this season. Giovanni Di Lorenzo picked up a late yellow of his own as the visitors' frustration spilled into the closing minutes.

Domestic form against European reality

The gap between Napoli's two competitions is now stark. In Serie A they sit 8th on 10 points from six games, coming off a comfortable 3-0 win over Frosinone before this trip to Spain, with a defence that has conceded only six goals domestically all season. In the Champions League, they have managed one goal and conceded four across two matches, with zero points to show for it. Whatever is working for Massimiliano Allegri's side in Italy has not yet travelled with them into Europe, and with 12 of the 36 clubs in this expanded league phase facing straight elimination, two defeats from two is a position Napoli cannot afford to let drift any further.

Villarreal's bench makes the difference

For Villarreal, this is a first win of the league phase after an opening 2-3 defeat at Borussia Dortmund, and it comes with the substitutes playing a central role — Pérez and Oluwaseyi combining for the clinching third goal, with Juan Foyth and Sergi Cardona also introduced to see the game out. Domestically Villarreal sit 11th in La Liga on 8 points from eight games, a mid-table return that undersells a side now level with much bigger names at the top end of the Champions League's 36-club table after two matchdays.

Match facts

• 8' — Amir Rrahmani (Napoli)
• 23' — Georges Mikautadze (Villarreal)
• 26' — Santiago Mouriño (Villarreal), assist Gerard Moreno
• 86' — Tani Oluwaseyi (Villarreal), assist Ayoze Pérez
• Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal — Champions League league phase, matchday 2, Tuesday 13 October 2026

What's next

Villarreal take their first Champions League points of the season into a La Liga campaign where they sit 11th on 8 points, with room to climb if this kind of second-half finishing travels with them. Napoli, 8th in Serie A on 10 points, return to a domestic league in which they have been far more convincing than they have managed so far in a Champions League league phase that has given them nothing but defeats.