HERRERA TARGETS ANOTHER WIN OVER NAPOLI

Midfielder Yangel Herrera was one of the heroes for Granada who took a giant step towards the round of 16 in the Europa League following the win over Napoli at home. The Venezuelan player opened the scoring for Granada at the Estadio de Los Carmenosbefore fellow South American star Kenedy added a second goal in two minutes. Kenedy had capitalised on some sloppy play from Napoli attacker Marco Politanoto double the advantage for the hosts on 21 minutes.

The damage was done to Napoli in just two first half minutes thereby leaving the Italian Serie A giants on the blink of elimination ahead of the second leg in Naples. Napoli will have to score three goals without reply in the second leg at home if they want to move past Granada into the round of 16 without extra time or penalties. A Granada goal in the second leg of their round of 32 Europa League tie means that Napoli will need to score four goals to qualify for the round of 16 of the competition.

In his post-match interview at the end of the game as monitored by Mundo Deportivo, Yangel Herrera told reporters that his team must approach the second leg in Naples as if the first leg ended in a goalless draw. According to him, Granada will need to target another win over Napoli to prevent complacency on the part of the Spanish La Liga team. Italian teams didn't have the best of knockout football in Europe this week as demonstrated by the timid performance from Napoli, which has left manager Gennaro Gattuso and his players with a lot of work to do if they want to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition. Earlier this week in the Champions League, Italian Serie A champions Juventus also turned in a timid performance against FC Porto in their last 16 first leg clash. FC Porto ran out 2-1 winners at the expense of the Old Lady ahead of the second leg in Turin next month.