Napoli’s Europa League campaign is over after an unlucky 1-1 draw with Villarreal, going out 2-1 on aggregate.
The first leg was decided by a late Denis Suarez free kick, so the Partenopei had to win by two clear goals to qualify for the Europa League Round of 16. Gonzalo Higuain got a rare start in this competition, but Faouzi Ghoulam, Omar El Kaddouri and Nathaniel Chalobah were injured. Villarreal missed Jonathan Dos Santos, Samu and suspended Javier Jimenez.
Napoli’s Europa League campaign is over after an unlucky 1-1 draw with Villarreal, going out 2-1 on aggregate.
The first leg was decided by a late Denis Suarez free kick, so the Partenopei had to win by two clear goals to qualify for the Europa League Round of 16. Gonzalo Higuain got a rare start in this competition, but Faouzi Ghoulam, Omar El Kaddouri and Nathaniel Chalobah were injured. Villarreal missed Jonathan Dos Santos, Samu and suspended Javier Jimenez.
Napoli had a perfect Europa League record this season before that defeat in Spain, but went into this game without a win in three competitive fixtures, their worst run of the campaign.
Villarreal had an aggressive start and within three minutes Mateo Musacchio’s header from a corner had bounced over, while Higuain turned a couple of efforts wide under pressure. Cedric Bakambu had a great chance when he surged forward between centre-backs, but Pepe Reina got down well to beat it away one-on-one.
Napoli took the lead and drew the tie level on aggregate thanks to a wonderful Marek Hamsik volley. A defensive clearance to stop a ball over the top reaching Higuain accidentally turned into an assist for the Slovak star to strike from the edge of the box.
Vlad Chiriches nodded a corner over the bar and it should’ve been 2-0, as Dries Mertens pulled back and the attempted interception almost turned into an own goal, deflected on to the near post.
Just before the break Mertens drilled wide on the counter-attack. After the restart Reina got just enough on to a cross in order to prevent Bakambu tapping in from six yards and Villarreal were more aggressive.
It paid off with a stroke of luck for the Spaniards, as Tomas Pina completely mis-kicked a cross, which looped over Reina into the far top corner.
This meant we could not have extra time in this fixture and Napoli now needed two goals to have the upper hand, as Villarreal had that precious away goal.
David Lopez blasted over from the Mertens pull-back, but Areola needed two great saves in quick succession on 71 minutes. First he palmed an Insigne strike over the bar, then denied Mertens from the resulting corner.
Higuain turned over from a promising position, Insigne and Manolo Gabbiadini fired wide as they threw the kitchen sink at them, but Villarreal are known for their solid defending and held out.
Napoli 1-1 Villarreal (1-2 on agg)
Scorers: Hamsik 17 (N), Pina 59 (V)
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Chiriches, Strinic (Maggio 64); David Lopez (Gabbiadini 78), Valdifiori (Jorginho 74), Hamsik; Insigne, Higuain, Mertens
Villarreal: Areola; Mario Gaspar, Musacchio, Victor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Rukavina (Castillejo 77), Pina (Trigueros 84), Bruno Soriano, Suarez; Soldado (Adrian Lopez 71), Bakambu
Ref: Aytekin (GER)