published: thursday 27 february 2014, 21.01cet ssc napoli 3-1 swansea city afc (agg: 3-1)
strikes from gonzalo higuaín and gökhan ınler broke welsh hearts late on, with fc porto up next for rafael benítez's side.
ssc napoli reached the last 16 of the uefa europa league for the first time thanks to a dramatic 3-1 round of 32 second-leg victory over swansea city afc in naples.
lorenzo ınsigne gave the hosts the lead, but swansea were good value for their jonathan de guzmán equaliser. ıt looked like they were going to go through on away goals, and without winning any of their last six european matches, until gonzalo higuaín and gökhan ınler scored late on to maintain napoli's 100% home record in europe this season.
not afraid to preserve possession and take the game to napoli, swansea made themselves feel at home before an incisive napoli struck with their first opportunity, higuaín flicking a header over the top for ınsigne who lobbed michel vorm.
raúl albiol had earlier come to napoli's rescue, clearing marvin emnes's effort off the line, and swansea still posed the greater threat, making the one-goal lead appear particularly precarious. so it proved when wilfried bony threaded a ball through to de guzmán, whose composed left-foot finish squirmed under the left arm of pepe reina, powerless to prevent the away goal.
swansea continued to carve out chances, pablo hernández firing wide and bony finding only reina, who was also quick off his line to clear ahead of wayne routledge as the premier league team asked all the questions.
de guzmán fizzed in an attempt from the right wing which tested reina while hernández was allowed the run of the field before his strike was deflected behind. there were still no answers from napoli.
the serie a outfit inevitably committed men forward and they were almost caught out at the back when bony placed his header too close to reina. ıt was a let-off for the hosts, who took full advantage when dries mertens's cross was not cleared by the swansea rearguard and the ball fell for higuaín to lash in their second.
reina tipped dwight tiendalli's header over in a dramatic finale before higuaín spurned the opportunity to ease the home fans' nerves on the counterattack. ınler obliged with practically the last kick of the match, placing the ball past vorm from marek hamšík's pass to set up a last-16 tie with fc porto.
yardımcı hakemler: octavian sovre (rou), sebastian gheorghe (rou)
4. hakem: radu ghinguleac (rou)
çizgi hakemleri: sebastian coltescu (rou), istván kovács (rou)
napoli: pepe reina (gk), henrique, josé callejón (dk. 84 miguel britos), gonzalo higuaín, christian maggio (c), goran pandev (dk. 59 marek hamšík), lorenzo insigne (dk. 68 dries mertens), faouzi ghoulam, raúl albiol, valon behrami, gökhan inler
yedekler: roberto colombo (gk), anthony réveillère, blerim dzemaili, duván zapata
teknik direktör: rafael benítez (esp)
swansea: michel vorm (gk), chico, ashley williams (c), wilfried bony, pablo hernández, wayne routledge (dk. 62 nathan dyer), dwight tiendalli, jonathan de guzmán (dk. 82 alejandro pozuelo), josé cañas, ben davies, marvin emnes (dk. 70 neil taylor)
yedekler: gerhard tremmel (gk), jordi amat, àngel rangel, david ngog
teknik direktör: garry monk (eng)
goller: (1-0) dk. 17 lorenzo insigne (1-1) dk. 30 jonathan de guzmán (2-1) dk. 78 gonzalo higuaín (3-1) dk. 90+3 gökhan inler
sarı kartlar: dk. 85 gökhan inler (napoli) dk. 47 josé cañas, dk. 54 chico, dk. 90+1 neil taylor (swansea)
ingiltere'de swansea city ile 0-0 berabere kalan napoli, evinde rakibini devirmeyi başardı.
karşılaşmaya etkili başlayan italyan ekip, üst üste bulduğu pozisyonlar ve yoğun baskının sonucunu gol ile aldı. 17. dakikada ınsigne'nin golüyle 1-0 öne geçen italyanlar bu golden sonra da baskıyı korumaya devam ettiler.
swansea ise 30. dakikada jonathan de guzman'ın golü ile dengeyi getirmeyi başardı. bu golün ardından napoli yeniden baskılı oyununa dönüş yaptı ancak ilk yarı 1-1 sona erdi.
ikinci yarı oyuna daha da ortak olan swansea, bony, emnes ve canas ile bulduğu fırsatlardan yararlanamadı.
napoli ise takımın golcü ismi gonzalo higuain'in 79. dakikada sahneye çıkmasıyla skoru 2-1'e getirdi.
maçın son dakikalarında baskıyı kuran ve rakip kaleyi ablukaya alan swansea aradığı golü bulamadı ve üstüne ders niteliğinde bir kontra atağı kalesinde gördü.
napoli gökhan inler'in golüyle skoru 3-1'e getirdi ve maça noktayı koyarak turu atlayan taraf oldu.
