Rafa Benitez implied the refereeing error against Dnipro was “not an accident,” but that can help Napoli in the second leg.
The first leg ended 1-1 with an offside goal at the Stadio San Paolo, a decision that infuriated President Aurelio De Laurentiis so much he implied UEFA wanted Sevilla to win the Europa League.
Benitez was asked about the ‘accident’ in the first leg of this semi-final and his response was unusual.
Rafa Benitez implied the refereeing error against Dnipro was “not an accident,” but that can help Napoli in the second leg.
The first leg ended 1-1 with an offside goal at the Stadio San Paolo, a decision that infuriated President Aurelio De Laurentiis so much he implied UEFA wanted Sevilla to win the Europa League.
Benitez was asked about the ‘accident’ in the first leg of this semi-final and his response was unusual.
“Accident? Come on, we all know how it really happened. We all saw full well what happened and that will help us,” said the Coach in his Kiev Press conference.
“An error of that magnitude in a semi-final can happen only once. I expect it to all be different tomorrow and everyone will be concentrated on having a normal game without controversy.
“The possibility of another refereeing error is minimal, as after the first leg everyone will be much more concentrated.”
Benitez is an old hand at the Europa League and aims to become the first Coach to win it three times with three different clubs.
“Obviously my experience and that of the players will help, but we all know what awaits us. I am relaxed and have faith in my squad.
“Napoli are here after 26 years playing in a European semi-final, something very important for our club.
“I haven’t yet decided on my line-up, as first we have to evaluate everyone’s fitness levels. I don’t think Dnipro will be afraid of us. If we play the way we did in the first leg, with Gonzalo Higuain creating three clear scoring opportunities, he’s likely to score at least one.
“I said it before, we know they are strong on set plays, but we will play our usual football aimed at scoring many goals.
“In our last game against Parma we had 23 shots, scoring two. I think that will be sufficient tomorrow.”
He still hasn’t signed a contract extension, so will tomorrow’s result affect his decision to stay or leave Napoli?
“You all know I still have to speak to my family. I have already talked to Aurelio over the last few days. We must stay concentrated only on the games we’ve got left this season. We’ll see about my future later on.”