Napoli lost yesterday in the Europa League first knockout stage away to FC Porto (score 1-0). Rafa Benitez is confident in the strength of his team and believes in its classification in the quarterfinals.
It was a good game last night at Estadio Dragao, with many important opportunities on both goals, missed by both sides. The only goal was scored by Jackson Martinez in the 57th minute of the meeting, so the Portuguese head to the return leg with a minimal advantage and no goal conceded at home.
Napoli tactician has not lost hopes in qualifying, and after the yesterday’s match claimed that his team can go on in the Europa League, even if they lost the first match.
“The Stadio San Paolo can make the difference. Obviously 1-0 is a negative result, but we can score twice at the San Paolo.” Benitez told Sky Sport Italia.
The Spanish tactician’s statements were based on the results obtained so far by Napoli in Europe this season: only wins at home, but a single draw in five matches played away.
“Our idea tonight was to go on the counter and be solid in defence. We need to be more precise with our counter-attacks in order to hurt opponents, so we have to create more,” Benitez continued.
“Having our fans behind us does make the difference, but Porto are a strong side who are very dangerous in attack.
“We must attack them and they will wait for us in the second leg, hoping to hit us on the break. We’ll see who has more quality.” concluded Napoli boss.