napoli nullify dinamo moskva to cruise through published: thursday 19 march 2015, 19.57cet fc dinamo moskva 0-0 ssc napoli (agg: 1-3) rafael benítez's men expertly closed out the tie in russia to make the quarter-finals for the first time since 1988/89.
• napoli into quarter-finals for first time since 1988/89 • rafael benítez's side expertly defend 3-1 first-leg advantage • dinamo moskva fail to beat mariano andújar and his impressive defence • hosts still yet to defeat ıtalian opposition on home turf • quarter-final draw in nyon on friday at 13.00cet
ssc napoli expertly negotiated their way into the uefa europa league quarter-finals, wrapping up their aggregate success against fc dinamo moskva with a 0-0 draw in the arena khimki.
with dinamo two goals down from the round of 16 first leg and having never beaten ıtalian opposition at home, things were weighted against hosts who had to survive an early flurry from rafael benítez's side. dinamo piled on the pressure throughout the second half but stanislav cherchesov's men had an off night going forward and napoli skilfully saw out the tie to move into the quarter-finals for the first time since lifting the trophy in 1989.
within the first five minutes the visitors spurned a glorious opportunity to stretch their 3-1 advantage when captain christian maggio was left unmarked at a corner but failed to connect cleanly with his point-blank header. dries mertens crashed a dipping effort off the crossbar from 25 metres and josé callejón slid an angled attempt narrowly wide but napoli could not capitalise on their dominance.
dinamo weathered the storm and responded with a lengthy spell of territorial supremacy, though mariano andújar was never seriously tested. an alexander büttner cross was just too high for kevin kuranyi to head on target while mathieu valbuena fizzed a shot from range narrowly over.
needing at least two to keep their hopes alive, dinamo upped the intensity after the restart. aleksandr kokorin fired centimetres over, an outstanding miguel britos intervention cut out büttner's lethal-looking cross and kuranyi sent a spectacular overhead wide.
the surge brought nothing, however, and gonzalo higuaín almost put the contest completely to bed but lobbed over, with vladimir gabulov stranded after a rush from goal. as time ticked down andújar denied valbuena at the near post and kuranyi nodded over. with their missed chances went dinamo's european campaign.
