slick napoli ease past spirited wolfsburg published: thursday 23 april 2015, 23.06cet ssc napoli 2-2 vfl wolfsburg (agg: 6-3) napoli confirmed their place in the last four but the german side exit with pride partially restored after recovering to draw on the night.
• josé callejón opens his account in this year's uefa europa league • dries mertens adds another as napoli become this season's highest scorers • wolfsburg draw level with headers from timm klose and ıvan perišić • napoli now 12 games unbeaten at home in european competition matches • the semi-final draw takes place in nyon from 12.00cet on friday
ssc napoli confirmed progress to the uefa europa league semi-finals after an entertaining second half produced a 2-2 draw with vfl wolfsburg that helped them complete a 6-3 aggregate triumph.
goalless at half-time, by midway through the second period the hosts were 2-0 up courtesy of josé callejón's deflected 50th-minute effort and a dries mertens. wolfsburg restored some pride, with two headers in three minutes from timm klose and ıvan perišić earning a draw on the night.
rafael benítez's side had the luxury of merely having to protect a three-goal lead from their first leg and wolfsburg took the game to their hosts early on, in spite of the absence of injured key men andré schürrle and kevin de bruyne. napoli goalkeeper mariano andújar produced excellent saves from perišić's header and a low drive from nicklas bendtner.
the partenopei's sole effort of the opening half came just a minute from its end as gonzalo higuaín volleyed wide, but they looked reinvigorated by the break and were quickly into their stride after it.
mertens had already curled just wide when callejón struck his first goal of this season's competition with a shot from just outside the area which took a wicked deflection off ricardo rodriguez before looping over the helpless diego benaglio in wolfsburg's goal. benaglio was even more unfortunate on 65 minutes after a fine save with his legs to deny mertens. the belgian was alert to the rebound and tapped in.
dieter hecking's side folded in the first leg but showed plenty of spirit here as they scored with two headers in the space of three minutes to reduce their overall arrears. klose struck from a corner before perišić stooped with a brave finish from josuha guilavogui's cross to level up the contest on the night.
