FULL TIME: Wolfsburg 1-4 Napoli
♬ ♪ ♯ Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Rafa, happy birthday to yo-ooo-ouuuuuu. ♫ ♬ ♪ ♭ ♪
90 min +3: But it’s been an awful evening for Wolfsburg, who have been nothing short of appalling. Not a great week for German clubs in Europe, after Bayern Munich’s big defeat at Porto in the Champions League.
90 min +2: This has been a stunning display by Napoli, who have been thoroughly excellent from back to front, and have made a huge statement here tonight against a side who were fancied to win this tournament. Napoli really want this Europa League title!
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. In the first, a ball’s whipped into the Napoli area by De Bruyne from the right. The excellent Perisic heads down at the far post. The ball nearly falls to Bendtner, but Britos clears, just in time.
90 min: Corner for Napoli down the left. A few clever flicks, and suddenly Ghoulam is in space. His lash from 25 yards is deflected high into the air. Benaglio, who has been jittery tonight, makes a song and dance of claiming, but he does so eventually, under pressure from the 5ft 4in Insigne. Dear me.
89 min: Sevilla have turned it around against Zenit; from 1-0 down at half-time, they’re now 2-1 up. It’s still 1-0 between Kiev and Fiorentina, and goalless between Brugge and Dnipro.
88 min: Defiant support from the home fans, who are doing their best to spur the home side on to a crucial second goal. But this game is petering out, with Napoli taking the sting out of proceedings in the professional style.
85 min: Another change for Napoli, as the excellent Higuain is replaced by Henrique.
83 min: Luis Gustavo tries to Gabbiadini one from 30 yards, but it’s well over the bar. He had Perisic in space down the left, too. And here’s the thing: for all Napoli’s dominance, a second Wolfsburg goal now would change things considerably, re-introducing the concept of hope into German lives.
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82 min: This game has turned into a complete nonsense. Gabbiadini, 25 yards out on the left, launches a rising, swerving shot goalwards. It twangs off the crossbar at some velocity, with Benaglio all over the place, totally clueless at what’s going on.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-4 Napoli (Bendtner 80)
Or is the comeback on?!? Perisic bursts down the left wing, reaches the byline - it’s a stunning, determined run - and whips a low ball into the middle, where Bendtner taps home from six yards. Napoli were snoozing there, which will make the birthday boy livid. A small chink of light for the German side. A very small chink of light, admittedly, but it’s something.
79 min: This is an absolute thumping. Rafa Benitez is a European genius. Maggio bursts down the right and stands one up in the middle. If Insigne wasn’t 5ft 4ins, he’d be heading that one in.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-4 Napoli (Gabbiadini 77)
And with his first touch, the substitute scores! Insigne in acres down the left. He whips the ball to the far post. Gabbiadini rises above Knoche and plants a header down towards the bottom left. The wrong-footed Benaglio slows it down with a desperate swing of his right boot, but the ball apologetically crosses the line anyway. This is a rout. And Napoli deserve this lead. They’ve been as brilliant as Wolfsburg have been dreadful.
75 min: Hamsik won’t be getting a hat-trick. Napoli’s two-goal hero instead receives the personal ovation he’s earned, replaced by Gabbiadini.
73 min: Both sides are currently giving the very strong impression that they want this match to be over. Both would declare if they could.
70 min: Luis Gustavo has a snap shot from a tight angle down the right, fed through by De Bruyne, but Andujar is on hand to block. A great effort, and a great save. After which Guilavogui is hooked, to be replaced by Arnold.
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69 min: Insigne, 30 yards out down the inside-left channel, sends a swerving shot goalwards. It’s heading into the right-hand portion of the net, and Benaglio nearly dives past it, going the other way, but adjusts mid-air, Billy the Fish style, and parries. This is getting desperate now. “Paul Sturrock a new entry at 3,” writes Simon McMahon. “Pele down to 4.” Have you made space for David Narey?
66 min: The Wolfsburg Arena is a very quiet place now. It could do with a song. Another verse of Happy Birthday for Rafa, anyone?
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-3 Napoli (Hamsik 64)
This is all over. Benaglio plays the ball out to Guilavogui, who plays an aimless ball towards the Napoli right wing. Callejon pounces on the piss-poor pass, bursts into the area, and squares for Hamsik, who sidefoots home from six yards. What a farce. That’s dreadful defending.
64 min: Schurrle, who has been busy if a bit rusty, and unfortunate not to score early doors, is replaced by Perisic.
61 min: Wolfsburg just aren’t on their game tonight. Vierinha dawdles in the midfield and is robbed by Higuain down the Napoli left. On another day, Higuain would have found Callejon bursting through the centre, but the ball’s too strong. A real sense that Napoli could strike the killer blow any time. It just needs one more quick break to click.
60 min: And now Napoli make a change, swapping Mertens for Insigne.
58 min: Wolfsburg make a change, the stunningly ineffective Dost replaced by Bendtner. The former Arsenal striker is nearly in the thick of it immediately, Schurrle heading a long diagonal ball from the left down at the right-hand post. But it doesn’t quite fall to his new strike partner. Napoli hack clear.
57 min: Hamsik makes a bit of ground down the right wing. He’s 40 yards from goal, out by the touchline, and tries to float one over Benaglio and into the top left. That effort is beyond ambitious. And beyond the goal, too, the ball sailing into the stand to the left of goal. But what confidence Napoli are playing with right now.
55 min: A few passes in the Napoli half by Wolfsburg. They probe this way and that. Eventually De Bruyne, 30 yards out down the inside-right channel, slips the ball inside to Luis Gustavo, whose long-range blooter is deflected away for a corner. From which, Caligiuri dribbles in from the left, and looks to curl one into the top right. Not quite. But that’s a whole lot better from the home side, who pushed Napoli back and actually got a couple of efforts away.
53 min: Mertens busies himself down near the left-hand corner flag, and squirts clear along the touchline. He finds Higuain, who can’t get a shot away from a tight angle but earns a corner. The set piece results in nowt, but the home side are living extremely dangerously. This quarter final could be over quite soon if they don’t raise their game, and quicksmart.
50 min: Schurrle has been busy down this right wing since the restart, making a couple of dangerous runs. He’s in space again, and fires a low cross towards the near post, where Britos very nearly slices into the top-right corner of his own net. That would have been highly farcical, as he was facing upfield at the time. But he gets away with it, the ball flashing out for a corner, which is wasted.
48 min: Napoli should be out of sight. Higuain is sent scampering down the inside-right channel, and again he powers ahead of the thin green line at the back. He’s free in the area, and looks to slot one into the bottom left, but his effort is blocked wonderfully by the strong hand of Benaglio, who has just kept his side in the Europa League.
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47 min: Wolfsburg start the half on the front foot, Caligiuri powering down the left and winning a corner, the otherwise excellent Maggio having been caught on the ball upfield. But not for the first time this evening, their set piece delivery is arrant nonsense. Napoli clear, with an insouciant whistle.
And we’re off again! Napoli get the ball rolling for the second period of this first leg. No changes. Dynamo Kiev are 1-0 up over Fiorentina, incidentally, while Zenit are leading at the holders Sevilla. “Maradona has to be the best ever, eh, Scott? With Ralphie Milne a close second. Pele third.” Dundee United fan Simon McMahon there. And who could argue with his findings.
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Half-time entertainment: Napoli’s bid for a second Uefa Cup / Europa League is looking good right now. Here’s a shot of them winning their first and only European trophy back in 1989. Ciro Ferrara skating on the margins of dignity there, his trouser arrangement proudly displayed for all the world to see. Diego doing well to avert his gaze.
HALF TIME: Wolfsburg 0-2 Napoli
So there’s the form book for you. Wolfsburg the hot team in the Bundesliga, Napoli struggling for goals of late. And look what’s happened. Wolfsburg can consider themselves unfortunate not to be on the scoresheet, and Napoli certainly got the benefit of the doubt with the handball decision on the first goal. But the Italians deserve their lead. They’ve been magnificent. This promises to be quite a second half, because the Germans need something, and Napoli look sharp on the break. No flipping!
45 min +1: Schurrle’s luck really is out: he drops a shoulder to cut in from the left and unleashes a rising screamer that’s heading for the top-left corner. Unfortunately Andujar is its equal, fingertipping the ball onto the crossbar and out for a corner, which proves to be a non-event. So unfortunate for the home side.
45 min: Caligiuri embarks on a determined run down the right. He powers into the area, and fizzes a low ball to the near post, where Dost awaits. But Albiol crowds him out, and Andujar gets down quickly to tip the ball away from the scene. On another day, it’d have fallen for Schurrle, rushing in, but it goes behind the striker and is hacked clear of danger by Britos.
43 min: Napoli stream forward calmly, Higuain holding the ball in the centre before tipping it to his left for Hamsik, who threads a low shot towards the bottom right. At full stretch, Benaglio tips it round the post with his fingertips. Superlative save, and a clever shot. The corner comes to nothing.
42 min: Another free kick for Wolfsburg, this time out on the right. Rodriguez loops it up and down and straight into Anjujar’s arms. Ah well, it cleared the first man I suppose.
40 min: Caligiuri cuts in from the left and, on the edge of the box, attempts to whip a curler into the top right. The ball hits the right shoulder of Britos. The home side claim a handball, but for the second time tonight that sort of decision doesn’t go their way. The ref got that right. The ball breaks to Schurrle on the right, and he whips a low ball into the centre, but Andujar is down to smother.
39 min: Inler slides into Caligiuri, rather clumsily, and is fortunate to escape a booking. That looked a sore one, right on the ankle. But it’s a free kick to Wolfsburg in a very dangerous position, 35 yards from goal, just to the left of centre. But again De Bruyne fails to beat the first man, with the box loaded! Hopeless.
38 min: De Bruyne tries to up the tempo for Wolfsburg, going on a high-speed slalom down the inside-left channel. He beats three men rather deliciously, but he’s got no support, Dost having taken root in the middle of the park. Eventually he loses possession, but that little cameo offered the Wolves some hope. He had Napoli on the back foot there.
35 min: Napoli are ripping Wolsburg apart down the flanks. Hamsik is sent scampering into space by a pitching wedge down the right by Maggio. He helps it on to Higuain, who enters the box completely unchallenged, but fortunately for the home side he’s faced with a tight angle. Higuain tries to Van Basten it home, but that’s wild and wide right. Wolfsburg really need to watch themselves here; their Europa League campaign is on a knife-edge.
32 min: Hamsik makes off down the right, reaches the touchline, and pulls one back for Higuain, whose shot from the penalty spot, on the run, is blocked by Naldo, rather brilliantly it must be said. What a block! That would have put this tie to bed, you would have thought. Wolfsburg go up the other end and win a corner, Guilavogui whipping a ball in fro, the right, Albiol powerfully heading behind. But all that occurs at the resulting set piece is a fairly lame Schurrle shot from distance.
30 min: Now it’s Wolfsburg’s turn to put a lovely passing move together, De Bruyne drawing a couple of dark blue shirts towards him on the left touchline before flicking a ball into space along the flank for Schurrle, whose low cross is hacked out of play for a corner by Albiol. The set piece is fired into the mixer, where Naldo powers a header towards the top right from 12 yards. It’s only just over the bar, causing the net to ripple, and fooling some of the home support into celebration. Not this time. But that’s much better from the home side, who started well only to capitulate in some style. The closest they’ve come.
28 min: A free kick for Wolfsburg down the left. A chance to load the box. The Germans are strong at set pieces - but they can’t do much if the delivery doesn’t beat the first man. De Bruyne has the good grace to look ashamed at his mishit free kick.
26 min: It’s all Napoli now. They’re winning every single ball right now. Another corner, this time down the left, comes to nothing. But the home side are now all over the shop, in a total panic, their Europa League challenge in serious bother already.
WHAT A GREAT GOAL THIS IS! Wolfsburg 0-2 Napoli (Hamsik 23)
If there was a doubt about the opener, there’s no doubt about this one. This is a stunning move. Maggio performs a gorgeous drag-back out by the right touchline to fox Rodriguez. The full back committed, Maggio flicks a ball into the space vacated behind him for Higuain, who romps down the channel before curling a low ball inside. It’s perfectly weighted for Hamsik, who doesn’t break stride before opening his body and powerfully sidefooting into the bottom right from the edge of the area. As good a goal as you’ll see in Europe all season, and this is shaping up to being a very happy 55th birthday for Rafa Benitez.
21 min: A break as Callejon is down taking a little nap. All’s well, he’s up again soon enough.
18 min: Wolfsburg try to respond quickly, De Bruyne zipping into a little space down the left. But he can’t find anyone in the centre. The hosts seem a little shell-shocked by letting in the opening goal. They were well on top before Napoli struck.
16 min: Well, what a sucker punch that was. Happy birthday Rafa. And it nearly gets even better, Higuain chasing another long ball, this one down the inside-right channel. He manages to get a scuffed shot away from a tight angle, and it squirts past Benaglio, but it’s not on target, rolling slowly across the front of the six-yard box. Wolfsburg can clear up.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-1 Napoli (Higuain 15)
And after all that, the Italians take the lead! And it’s so simple! Mertens finds a little space down the left, as Napoli embark on a quick break. He drops a shoulder and launches a diagonal ball into the middle for Higuain, who chests down as he powers into the box, before flicking the ball into the left-hand side of the net! What a finish! Shades of handball, as he brought that down half with his chest, half with the meat of his upper arm. But he was being shoved in the back by Rodriguez anyway, so it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Great goal!
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13 min: But suddenly Napoli spring into attack, Callejon sashaying down the right before sliding a ball forward for Maggio. The full back’s in the area, but he can’t get a shot away; it’s blocked for a corner that’s cleared easily enough. But that’s a little better from Napoli, who have settled into the role of the put-upon away side all right during the opening exchanges.
11 min: A second corner of the evening for Wolfsburg, down the left this time, as De Bruyne fires a low ball into the area. It’s hacked out. The set piece is headed out to Caligiuri, who decides to meet the dropping ball with a spectacular volley. His effort flies into the stand behind the goal at some speed, nowhere near the target. But Napoli are being forced to dig in here.
8 min: This is all Wolfsburg right now. Vierinha hoicks a cross into the Napoli box from the right, but it’s way too big. Then another phase of attack, and the busy De Bruyne is trying to work Maggio down the left. He can’t quite get past. And then another phase, and Luis Gustavo has a lash from distance, but it’s easily gathered by Andujar.
6 min: A free kick for Wolfsburg now, the best part of 30 yards from goal, level with the right-hand post. De Bruyne eyes it, but Rodriguez is the man who eventually takes it. And it’s a dreadful effort, an attempted curler for the top-right corner that’s well wide of the target. Andujar ambled across towards that in the half-arsed fashion, having it covered all the way. De Bruyne may well get the next one.
5 min: De Bruyne battles for a high ball down the right. He doesn’t win it, Britos getting there first, but no matter, because that’s a corner for Wolfsburg. The set piece comes to nothing, but this is a strong start by the home side, who are going for Napoli in a fairly roubust fashion.
3 min: Vieirinha makes good down the right with a lovely little backheel to himself, creating a bit of space. He whips a high ball into the area, Dost going up with Andujar, causing a little bit of bother. The keeper makes a nine-course tasting menu of claiming the ball, letting it drop near the striker before snaffling it. That’s the job successfully done, after a fashion.
2 min: Now it’s Napoli’s turn to get a feel of the ball, sweeping it between their defenders. A slow, steady, studied start to the game. And why not, there’s still a minimum of 178 minutes to go in this tie.
And we’re off! The home side get the ball rolling and knock it around the back awhile. A rare old atmosphere in the Wolfsburg Arena.
The teams are out! Wolfsburg, aka the Wolves, are in their green shirts. Napoli - known as the Partenopei, a reference to Parthenope, one of the Sirens of Greek mythology - are in their change strip of darker blue.
Wolfsburg are the form team in the Bundesliga. They’ve amassed more points than even Bayern Munich since the winter break. Napoli meanwhile sit fourth in Serie A, though their goals have dried up a wee bit of late: four blanks drawn in their last six games. But their last outing was a 3-0 hammering of Fiorentina, so perhaps they’re coming good at the right time. The Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has just likened their star striker Gonzalo Higuain to John Hartson, for his ability to hold up the ball and bring other players into the game. Some will no doubt laugh it up, but Hartson was a magnificent striker, one of the reasons Celtic made it all the way to the final in 2003. The poor guy was injured for the big game against Porto; Celtic missed him.
So the road to Warsaw begins in earnest here. No British sides have made it this far, of course, though Celtic, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and especially Everton gave it their best shots. Next year maybe. It’d be about that time. Only two winners from these shores since Spurs lifted the thing in 1984: Liverpool in 2001, Chelsea in 2013.
But this one’s about Germany and Italy, two countries with even worse recent records in this competition than the English. Parma, poor jiggered Parma, are the last Italian club to lift this trophy; they beat Marseille in 1999. The Germans have been enduring an even longer wait: Schalke were their last heroes in this competition, doing for Roy Hodgson’s Internazionale in 1997. It’s been an awfully long time.
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Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V.: Benaglio, Vieirinha, Naldo, Knoche, Rodriguez, Caligiuri, Guilavogui, Gustavo, Schurrle, De Bruyne, Dost.
Subs: Grun, Bendtner, Schafer, Klose, Perisic, Trasch, Arnold.
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli: Andujar, Maggio, Albiol, Britos, Ghoulam, Callejon, David Lopez, Inler, Mertens, Hamsik, Higuain.
Subs: Rafael Cabral, Henrique, Jorginho, Gabbiadini, Insigne, Koulibaly, Gargano.
Referee: Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
♬ ♪ ♯ Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Rafa, happy birthday to yo-ooo-ouuuuuu. ♫ ♬ ♪ ♭ ♪ There’s 55 candles on Rafael Benitez’s cake, and the man deserves a large sugary slice. He divides opinion more than he should, given only Nereo Rocco, Giovanni Trapattoni, Bob Paisley and Sir Alex Ferguson have won more major European prizes. He’s got a Champions League, a Uefa Cup and a Europa League to his name, the trophies won at three separate clubs. This competition’s been good to him; if Napoli go on to win it this season, he’ll match Trap by becoming only the second man to win it for a third time. Blow your candles out, Rafa, make a wish.
This competition’s been good to Napoli, too. The Uefa Cup is the only European trophy they’ve won, Diego Maradona inspiring his side to victory against a Stuttgart team featuring Jurgen Klinsmann back in 1989. They’re doing a fine job in this campaign, too. They’ve conceded the fewest goals of the sides that started in the group stages, just four, an average of 0.4 per game. How very Rafa. But they’ve also had the most shots on (77) and off target (67), have hit the post eight times, and boast the leading remaining goalscorer in the competition in Gonzalo Higuain, who has six goals.
Wolfsburg are, by comparison, relatively inexperienced on the European stage. They’ve only played 60 games in Uefa club competition; this campaign matches their best-ever run in Europe, when they lost to Roy Hodgson’s Fulham in the 2010 Europa League quarter finals. But then this is Napoli’s first appearance in a European quarter final since their 1989 win; Dieter Hecking’s exciting side, currently second in the Bundesliga, have won their last two European home fixtures by two goals; and they’ve thrashed Napoli’s Serie A colleagues Internazionale 5-2 to get here.
So this one’s in the balance all right. It promises to be a cracker. It’s on!
Kick off: 8.05pm in the UK, 9.05pm at the VfL Wolfsburg Arena, and 9.05pm back in Naples.
