5 Key Issues That Will Shape Europa League Quarter-Final 2nd Legs
Napoli's 4-1 win at Wolfsburg last Thursday wasn't just a hugely impressive performance and result, but it also served as the only one of the Europa League quarter-finals in which a clear advantage has been established at the halfway point.
Rafael Benitez's side—who were the underdogs for the match—dismantled their Bundesliga opponents to become the firm favourites for progression back in Naples, but the other last-eight meetings aren't so clear cut.
Club Brugge head for Dnipro following a goalless first leg in Belgium, Fiorentina host Dynamo Kiev after drawing 1-1 in Ukraine and Sevilla hold a slender 2-1 advantage as they go to Russia to face Zenit St. Petersburg, who of course have a crucial away goal.
What will be the key issues which affect the matches as the tournament's last-eight clubs standing reconvene? Here are five of them.
Can Konoplyanka's Quality End Club Brugge's Unbeaten Run?
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Dnipro vs. Club Brugge—1st leg result: 0-0
As detailed in UEFA’s report on the goalless first leg in Belgium, hosts Club Brugge had to be alert to keep out Dnipro’s main threat Yevhen Konoplyanka when the sides last met almost a week ago—something that they just about did thanks to two fine stops from highly-rated Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
Of course the Ukrainian winger’s rather complicated name is familiar from an on-again, off-again transfer saga involving Liverpool in January 2014—something that the Reds are hoping to revive in the summer when he’ll be available on a free, according to the Daily Star (h/t Metro)—but while his immediate future remains in his homeland he’ll be an extremely difficult man for the Belgian side to stop.
Konoplyanka has just one goal in 11 Europa League matches this season, but it is as a creative force where he could really hurt a side whose unbeaten run in this competition now stands at 15 matches following the first-leg draw.
Scoring goals has been Dnipro’s problem in the competition this season, with just 10 strikes from their 11 matches.
It’ll be the fine details which decide this most delicately poised of quarter-finals, though, and perhaps with an eye on impressing the scouts who continue to watch him, Konoplyanka has the quality to be the one who provides them.
Will Fiorentina Shake off Shocking Form Against Poor Travellers Dynamo Kiev?
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Fiorentina vs. Dynamo Kiev—1st leg result: 1-1
Dynamo Kiev traditionally don’t travel too well in Europe, and Fiorentina are going to have to hope that remains the case given their recent form gives them nothing to be confident about ahead of this second leg.
Monday night’s shock 1-0 defeat to Verona was the third in four games, with the only goal in that time scored via a wonderful flick from Khouma Babacar in stoppage time in the Ukrainian capital last week.
That away goal in itself makes Fiorentina the favourites to progress from a tie against a side which lost the away legs at both Guingamp and Everton in the two rounds prior to this one, but there aren’t going to be too many confident voices or faces at the Artemio Franchi come Thursday night, and with good reason.
Mohamed Salah—who assumed “Golden Boy” status immediately upon his arrival on loan from Chelsea thanks to six goals in seven games—has now seen that form disappear. He was only a substitute against Verona and was looked to from the bench to try to provide some inspiration in the final half an hour.
None came, and it will take a huge effort to summon some up against a Dynamo Kiev outfit which might get homesick but will at least feel like they have a real chance of causing an upset.
This has the potential to be a cracker.
Will Rafa's Rotation Risk Bring Napoli's Great Run to an End?
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Napoli vs. Wolfsburg—1st leg result: 4-1
The hugely impressive 4-1 win at Wolfsburg in the first leg of their quarter-final tie was the second of a three-match winning run that Napoli are on, during which they’ve scored 10 goals and conceded just the one.
Just at a time when supporters had started to turn against manager Rafael Benitez he seems to have found a little extra from his players—the same players who had gone winless in the five matches prior to this impressive treble.
The likes of Jose Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain started all three of those victories, and so would rotating them out of the side for a match in which Napoli could afford to lose 3-0 and still progress to the semi-finals be risking an end to the momentum?
Somewhat tellingly, Benitez substituted Callejon, Higuain and captain Marek Hamsik in Sunday’s convincing 3-0 victory at Cagliari in Serie A, hinting that he is priming all three of his main men to go into battle against Wolfsburg for a second time.
Complacency might well be an issue, but given Benitez’s history with European matches and three-goal leads involving Italian sides then you’d think that the Spaniard should prepare for battle thoroughly.
And that preparation should include picking his best team.
Is the Return of Hulk and the Fantastic Four Going to Lift Zenit?
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Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Sevilla—1st leg result: 1-2
The first leg had barely finished before the official UEFA website were pointing to the returns from suspension of Hulk, Danny, Igor Smolnikov and Domenico Criscito as crucial to Zenit St. Petersburg’s hopes of reaching the last four of a competition they won in 2008.
More crucial still could be the goals they conceded to Carlos Bacca and Denis Suarez in the final 17 minutes in Seville—strikes which allowed the Europa League specialists and current holders to take the narrowest of leads to Russia for this hugely intriguing second clash.
Of the four returnees it is of course Hulk who will command the most attention both before and during the match, and the Brazilian’s sprinkling of stardust might just be enough to inspire during what will be a tense night at the Stadion Petrovski.
Zenit boss Andre Villas-Boas will have known what holding onto their one-goal lead in Seville could have done for both the collective confidence of his team and his own reputation, which has been battered a little recently, but given that he now has more of that team back then a fascinating evening looks in store.
This could well be one which goes all the way.
Have Sevilla's Super-Subs Done Enough to Earn Starts?
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Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Sevilla—1st leg result: 1-2
In the past decade, no other club has seemed as at home in the Europa League than three-time winners Sevilla—who now share the record for the most tournament victories with Juventus, Inter Milan and Liverpool.
During those wins they will have encountered situations more difficult than taking a 2-1 lead to Zenit St. Petersburg, but there is little doubt that theirs is a precarious advantage, and one that boss Unai Emery will be dreaming up ways to protect.
Those ways could include starts for Carlos Bacca and Denis Suarez, the two men who came off the bench to great effect in the home leg against Zenit which needed turning around. Both scored, although Bacca should really have made it 3-1 when he fluffed a late chance.
That would have made this task simpler, but with both rewarded for their European heroics with starts in the league draw at Granada on Sunday, Emery might be wise to keep them in his side in a bid to give Zenit something to think about at the back.
After all, the hosts are the ones who will be under pressure to score on the night of the second leg, and so reminding them of the men who inflicted so much pain in the first encounter might ensure they enter the contest more than a little wary.
