Napoli's coach from Spain Rafael Benitez attends a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Europa League semi final first leg football match SSC Napoli vs FK Dnipro on May 6, 2015 at the SSC Napoli headquarters in Castelvolturno. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS: Rafeal Benitez is expecting no favours from Ukraine underdogs Dnipro for his swashbuckling Napoli side, while holders Sevilla await Fiorentina in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg ties.
A third Europa League title is at stake for knock-out king Benitez, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, the then UEFA Cup with Valencia in 2004 and the Europa League for Chelsea in 2013.
“The prize for going through is nothing less than a place in the final of a European competition,” said Benitez.
The second legs will be played a week later and the final itself is in Warsaw on May 27, with a place in next season’s Champions League on offer to the winner for the first time.
Fourth in Serie A and fresh from a 3-0 win over AC Milan, Napoli’s free-scoring football has the Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain as a spearhead and he has seven goals in the competition, backed by a trident of attacking midfielders.
Chief amongst Higuain’s support act is Marek Hamsik, the spikey haired tormentor of Wolfsburg, who were thrashed 4-1 in Germany in the quarter-final first leg, a match that sent a message to all Europa League pretenders.
Little known Dnipro are the former rocket factory side that twice won the old Soviet League and have been a top four side for much of the past 20 seasons in Ukraine.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2015.
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