Napoli v Dnipro – Europa League Preview: Partenopei out to dim The Warriors of Light

Date: 6th May 2015 at 9:30am
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Napoli Europa LeagueNapoli play host to Dnipro at the Stadio San Paolo on Thursday night in their Europa League semi-final first-leg in what is sure to be a night of high tension and passion as the southern giants look to make it to their first European final since the days of Maradona in 1989.

Indeed the Partenopei haven’t made it this far in a UEFA competition since winning that UEFA cup against Stuttgart in 1989.

Coach Rafael Benitez though has since tasted success in the UEFA Cup/Europa League on two occasions with two of his previous clubs in 2004 with Valencia and 2013 with Chelsea, and could equal Giovanni Trapattoni’s record of three titles if he were to lead the Azzurri all the way to success this season.

The Warriors of Light on the other hand have reached a semi-final of a European competition for the first time in their history as their previous best record were two quarter-final appearances in the European Cup in 1984/85 and 1989/90.

The sides have only met each other twice in European competition in the 2012/13 Europa League group stages, with the Ukrainians winning the home leg 3-1, but Walter Mazzarri’s men got revenge in the return leg with a 4-2 win including two goals from Edinson Cavani.

Napoli are unbeaten in 12 European games at home since the 3-0 loss to Viktoria Plzen in February 2013, while Dnipro have only won one of their previous ten away matches in Europe that been a 2-1 win against FK Qarabag in this season’s group stage.

The Partenopei are the top scorers in this season Europa League with 25 goals and striker Gonzalo Higuain is the top scorer left in the tournament with seven goals to his name, while Slovak Marek Hamsik has been in fine form lately and has 13 goals and 10 assists to his name this season in all competitions.

Croatian Nikola Kalinic is the Ukrainian’s top marksman in the Europa Legaue with three goals while midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka has completed the most attempts on target with 15 and could pose danger with long-range efforts and is the most fouled player in the competition which could leave free-kick specialist Ruslan Rotan the chance to exploit opportunities from set-pieces.

Both sides have virtually full strength squads with the to call upon with the Partenopei just missing long-term absentee Michu, while both Jonathan de Guzman and Juan Zuniga are close to returning to first team action.

Form Guide: Napoli (W-W-D-W-L-W), Dnipro (D-D-W-W-W-L)

Expected Startings XIs

Napoli : Andújar, Maggio, Albiol, Britos, Ghoulam, Inler, David López; Insigne, Hamšík, Gabbiadini, Higuaín.

Dnipro : Boyko; Fedetskiy, Douglas, Cheberyachko, Léo Matos, Kankava, Rotan, Fedorchuk, Luchkevych, Konoplyanka, Kalini.

 

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