Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas sees Champions League tie with Napoli as ‘one of the most difficult and exciting games of the last 16’

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas believes the club’s pairing in the Champions League last-16 with Napoli is one of the hardest fixtures of the round.

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The Blues finished top of their group to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament and were rewarded with a tough tie against the in-form Italian side who helped knock Manchester City out of the competition.

Villas-Boas sees the Naples club as formidable opponents with a strong fan base, and hailed the tie as one the top games in Friday’s draw.

He told the club's official website: “I think we have one of the most difficult draws but whichever team you get in the last 16 will be a difficult team.

“Napoli is a club that represents the city and the city has great empathy with the club.

“It has a tremendous fan base and it is one of the most difficult and exciting games of the last 16, no doubt about it.”

Napoli qualified second in their group behind Bayern Munich, and Villas-Boas, who joined Stamford Bridge from Porto over the summer, highlighted Marek Hamsik and Edinson Cavani as big threats to the Blues squad.

“They are a side that works collectively very well and [head coach] Walter Mazzarri has always been a coach that organises his teams very well,” Villas-Boas added.

“They have been improving tremendously under his guidance and have been gaining the results that they want and they expect.

“They are fully motivated and they have a lot of talent coming through like Hamsik and Cavani. They have a lot of talent throughout.”

Chelsea will play the second-leg of the clash at Stamford Bridge, which the Portuguese coach admitted was a positive ahead of the February fixture.

Villas-Boas confessed: “It is always good [to play the second leg at home] but we have to make sure we create the same environment at home as in the Stadio San Paolo in Naples, because it is one of the biggest stadiums in the world and the empathy between club and city comes to enormous proportions at the game.

“The fans are an incentive for the team all the way through.

“So it is important that Stamford Bridge replicates that, like we did against Valencia and Man City because that can be a major help.

“We are looking forward to the games and hopefully we can prepare well and hopefully we can go through.”

Chelsea summer signing Juan Mata was in agreement with his manager, describing Napoli as dangerous opponents in the last-16.

“Tough draw in the knockout stage. Napoli is our rival in Champions,” the winger wrote on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

“The first leg in Italy will be very complicated. What do you reckon? I like this team, with fast, handstand and incisive players

“But first of all, before that, we need to focus in the Premier League, tomorrow we play against Wigan. We will try to keep the winning streak.”