Napoli travel to Austria hoping to progress to the Quarter Finals of the Europa League

Italian side Napoli travel to Austria for the first time in pursuit of a quarter final Europa League space after winning their home tie 3-0 over the Salzburg last Thursday.

In the first leg at the Stadio San Paolo, the game was all but over in the 18th minute. Midfielder Fabián Ruiz put the final nail in the coffin to make it 2-0 after Polish forward Arkadiusz Milik scored his first European goal of the season.

The disappointment for the away side wasn’t over though as in the 58th minute Cameroon international and Salzburg defender  Jérôme Onguéné put the ball in the back of his own net to seemingly put the tie beyond the Austrian outfit.

That win meant that the Salzburg have only won four of 15 European encounters with Italian clubs, that win also continued Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti’s hot streak in the Europa League as he’s won three out of the three he’s managed in.

Club Brugge will be all too familiar with the possibility of a comeback for the Austrian side though as in the last round they went into the second leg with a 2-1 disadvantage. In the second leg, they won 4-0 so there is hope that the same result could come of there tie against Napoli.

Since the two last met both have only played one game, with this matches host drawing 0-0 SK Sturm Graz while the away side from Naples had to score late on to equalise with Sassuolo, with the game ending 1-1.

After the draw, the Italian side still remain second though only six points ahead of Genaro Gattuso’s AC Milan side while the gap from table toppers Juventus increased by two points after a Paulo Dybala strike helped them beat Bologna.

While Austrian side Salzburg still remain top of the league that draw did mean there points advantage over second-placed LASK Linz decreased to only nine points, a minor blip in their bid for their sixth Austrian Bundesliga.

Elsewhere in the Europa League Valencia take a 2-1 lead to Krasnodar; Chelsea travel to Kyiv with a 3-0 lead; Villarreal host Zenit after winning 3-1 in Russia; Arsenal hope to overturn there 3-1 loss as they host Rennes at the Emirates; Sevilla travel to Prague as they hold the away goals over Slavia Praha; Dinamo Zagreb travel to Benfica with a one-goal lead and Frankfurt travel to the San Siro to face Inter with the game poised at 0-0.

Red Bull Salzburg boss Marco Rose reflected on the second leg saying:

“The position going into the match is clear, and it’s difficult for us. We need to do the things that didn’t come off in the first leg well. Only if we do that can we see what we can achieve or what’s possible.”

Ancelotti expressed his concern with how many chances his side allowed the opponents in the last leg:

“We allowed some dangerous counter-attacks and through runs that at 3-0 we really could’ve avoided. We can be impenetrable when we defend well, but we get too exuberant and try to push forward.

“Salzburg have proved they’ve got great pace and stamina, so we need to be on alert. We need to score at least a goal in the second leg, otherwise we’ll run risks.”

The hosts will be missing Marin Pongracic (thigh) and Zlatko Junuzovic (muscle) through injury while midfielder Xaver Schlager is suspended, after picking up too many yellow cards.

As for the away side, they have two players out with suspension those are defenders Kalidou Koulibaly and Nikola Maksimović as both were booked in their last meeting.

There are no injury concerns for the Italian side but Napoli boss Ancelotti will have a huge decision to make and that is whether to start young keeper Alex Meret who kept a clean sheet when the two last met or play David Ospina who started against Sassuolo as Meret was suspended.

Sevilla bound Munas Dabbur is Red Bull Salzburg’s top scorer in all competitions, the Isreali born striker has scored 24 in 36 games.

He is also the Europa League top scorer with seven, followed by Eintracht Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic and soon to be team-mate Wissam Ben Yedder.

Arkadiusz Milik leads in the goal scoring department for the away side with his goal against their next opponents being his first in a European competition this season. He has scored 16 goals in 33 matches for his side.

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