Munich, Nov 1: Bayern Munich can seal a place in the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday if it beats Napoli at home and Manchester City fails to win at Villarreal.
Bayern's chances look good, since Napoli has never won in Germany and City has been less impressive in Europe.
City's expensively assembled side leads England's Premier League by five points from fierce rival Manchester United but has won just one of three matches in its debut Champions League season.
Bayern warmed up for its match against Napoli by routing Nuremberg 4-0 to open a four-point lead in the Bundesliga and coach Jupp Heynckes is likely to have key midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and defender Daniel van Buyten back after slight injuries.
Bayern drew 1-1 at Napoli and leads Group A with seven points from three matches. Napoli has five and City four, while Villarreal still has to earn a point.
“Napoli is difficult to play against, they run and fight a lot. And they play a system that we don't find in the Bundesliga,” Bayern midfielder Toni Kroos said.
Napoli's formation features three defenders and a crowded midfield.
“We need to adjust. We played well away but we could have done some things better. We have to do that at home,” Kroos said. “With 10 points, we'd be all but through.”
Bayern is undefeated in eight straight home games this season, with an astonishing 33-0 goal difference.
“It's compulsory to get three points,” said Schweinsteiger, who is likely to be fit for Wednesday after going off with a calf injury on Saturday.
“When we play like this we're unstoppable,” striker Mario Gomez said after taking his tally to a league-leading 12 against Nuremberg.
“We're playing excellent football, our zonal marking is superb, we're passing well and look good on the ball,” Heynckes said.
Van Buyten is also likely to be available after bruising on the right foot.
After an impressive start to the season, Napoli has struggled in Serie A lately and failed to win three of its last four matches, including a 2-1 loss at Catania on Saturday that saw the visitors reduced to 10 men.
“We're focused on Bayern now, although it's not easy keeping up both in Italy and Europe,” Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said.
Napoli midfielder Walter Gargano is out for a month and reserve striker Goran Pandev is also unavailable.
Meanwhile, Villarreal has suffered yet another injury blow with defender Cristian Zapata hurting ligaments in his right knee and set to miss five weeks.
The loss of Zapata comes after injuries ruled out Cani, Marco Ruben and Marcos Senna for Wednesday's match with City.
The latest setbacks only compounded the worries of coach Juan Carlos Garrido, who was already without star strikers Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar.
Rossi will be out of action for about six months after suffering a serious knee injury against Real Madrid last week, while Nilmar is still on the comeback trail after undergoing an operation to remove a knee cyst at the start of the month.
Villarreal's injury problems have coincided with a poor start to the season with the only two wins in the Spanish season.
City beat Villarreal 1-0 two weeks ago through a late goal by Sergio Aguero and the Argentina forward, who is among 23 players shortlisted for the FIFA world player of the year award, is likely to again lead the English side's attack.
“If we do (win), it could put a completely different complexion on the group,” City defender Micah Richards said. “It could work in our favor that Villarreal need to win because they will have to come at us, which will give us the opportunity to do our stuff on the counterattack.”
