Lazio move ahead of rivals Roma

SS Lazio's winning streak continued with a 4-0 victory against Empoli FC that lifted them into second spot ahe
 SS Lazio secure an eighth consecutive Serie A victory by beating Empoli FC 4-0.
• Stefano Mauri, Miroslav Klose and Antonio Candreva register first-half strikes.
• Felipe Anderson adds fourth, before Biancocelesti lose Diego Novaretti to a red card.
• The win moves Lazio a point ahead of city rivals AS Roma, who draw 1-1 at Torino FC.
• Alessandro Florenzi's second-half penalty puts Giallorossi ahead before Maxi López levels.ad of city rivals AS Roma, who could only draw 1-1 at Torino FC.
• SSC Napoli secure an important 3-0 victory against ACF Fiorentina.
• The result allows Rafael Benítez's side to hurdle their opponents into fourth spot.
• Strikes from Dries Mertens, Marek Hamšík and José Callejón seal the win.
• AC Milan salvage a 1-1 stalemate at home to UC Sampdoria.
• Nigel De Jong cancels out Roberto Soriano's effort for sixth-placed Sampdoria.
• Atalanta BC ease relegation fears by downing US Sassuolo Calcio 2-1.
• AC Cesena now seven points from safety after a 1-0 loss to AC Chievo Verona.
• US Città di Palermo earn first victory in seven games, winning 3-1 at Udinese Calcio.

SSC Napoli v FC Barcelona: First defeat of preseason (1-0)

Despite posing very little threat in tonight’s friendly in Geneva, Napoli edged it thanks to a Dzemaili strike after 80 minutes

Despite the result, tonight was a great test for Luis Enrique’s side against Napoli in Geneva. Claudio Bravo made his Barça debut against the club that finished third in Serie A last year, and although the Italians took the win thanks to the only goal of the night, the Catalans played strong and confident football despite the absence of some of their biggest stars.

Managed by Rafa Benítez and with familiar faces like Callejón and Albiol in the side, Napoli didn’t disappoint. They got the first chance of the night, 

which Claudio Bravo kept out with a spectacular diving save. Soon after, Andrés Iniesta got FCB’s first decent shot in, but it did little to trouble rival keeper Rafael Cabral. And then came a wonderful through ball from Rakitic to Munir, but the Napoli stopper once again did well.

The Stade de Geneve was by no means packed but there were plenty of Barça and Napoli fans to generate an atmosphere. And although the game was certainly no thriller, the quality of the football was unquestionably good.

Surpassingly for a preseason game, Luis Enrique made no changes at half-time. Pedro came to life with two successive chances, while Rafinha was another of Barça’s most prominent players, active in attack and coming frustratingly close to scoring. With half an hour to go, the FCB manager started making wholesale changes to his eleven, with Edgar Ié, Samper, Sandro, Sergi Robert, Grimaldo and Halilovic all coming on for Piqué, Sergio, Munir, Iniesta, Jordi Alba and Rakitic.

It was practically Barça B out there, but although they were still commanding the possession, the Catalans produced very little serious threat to Rafael Cabral. Bagnack, Adama and Deulofeu were all sent on for the last quarter of an hour, replacing Bartra, Rafinha and Pedro. But it all went wrong in the 80th minute when a long-range strike from Dzemaili slipped through the hands of Claudio Bravo and into the net. Barça did their best to make amends, but there was to be no more score, and it all ended 1-0 to Napoli. The team will now return to Barcelona to prepare for Saturday’s trip to Helsinki.

Sevilla and Wolfsburg stumble, Napoli stroll

Sevilla FC dropped points in their hunt for a top-four spot in Spain and VfL Wolfsburg also drew, while the likes of SSC Napoli and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk posted big wins.

Sevilla FC may have had one eye on their quarter-final decider with FC Zenit when they could only draw 1-1 with lowly Granada CF on Sunday, the UEFA Europa League holders dropping points like their Russian rivals and fellow last-eight hopefuls VfL Wolfsburg. SSC Napoli and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk enjoyed commanding wins, meanwhile, and Club Brugge KV caught the eye in Belgium, as UEFA.com recaps.

• Artem Kravets scored twice as FC Dynamo Kyiv won 3-1 at FC Volyn Lutsk to maintain their five-point advantage over FC Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. Vitaliy Buyalskiy added the other goal for Serhiy Rebrov's men, who are undefeated in 20 league games this season.

• ACF Fiorentina are in action on Monday night against Hellas Verona FC, when Vincenzo Montella's charges will be looking for the win they need to climb into fifth spot above UC Sampdoria.
Fiorentina v Dynamo Kyiv: 23 April (first leg: Dynamo 1-1 Fiorentina)

• Club Brugge KV came from behind to defeat rivals RSC Anderlecht 2-1 in the Belgian championship play-offs. Aleksandar Mitrović put the visitors ahead in the first period, but Obbi Oularé and Ruud Vormer scored within the final 16 minutes to leave the Blauw-Zwart second with a game in hand.

• FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have now gone six games without defeat in the Ukrainian Premier League after a thumping 5-0 win at FC Olimpik Donetsk. Yevhen Seleznyov struck twice for third-placed Dnipro, who lie eight points behind leaders Dynamo Kyiv.
Dnipro v Club Brugge: 23 April (first leg: Club Brugge 0-0 Dnipro)

• Sevilla FC's push for a UEFA Champions League berth stuttered as they drew 1-1 at struggling Granada CF, the home side's Diego Mainz Garcia registering at both ends. Unbeaten in eight Liga games, Sevilla trail fourth-placed Valencia CF by two points.

• Despite being held to a 0-0 draw at FC Kuban Krasnodar, FC Zenit remain eight points clear of closest rivals FC Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League.
Zenit v Sevilla: 23 April (first leg: Sevilla 2-1 Zenit)

• The Bundesliga's second-placed outfit VfL Wolfsburg were unable to pick up a victory on Sunday as they were held 1-1 by FC Schalke 04. Kevin De Bruyne struck 12 minutes from time to rescue the hosts, who slipped 12 points behind pacesetters FC Bayern München.

• SSC Napoli made it back-to-back 3-0 wins in Serie A courtesy of a comfortable victory at Cagliari Calcio. José Callejón and Manolo Gabbiadini found the net either side of an Antonio Balzano own goal, as the fourth-placed Partenopei climbed within five points of AS Roma.
Napoli v Wolfsburg: 23 April (first leg: Wolfsburg 1-4 Napoli)

nguon: uefa

Napoli's Benítez still taking nothing for granted

Despite SSC Napoli earning a 4-1 first-leg cushion in their quarter-final against VfL Wolfsburg, Rafael Benítez said "you never know" what might happen next week.
Birthday boy Rafael Benítez wanted his SSC Napoli players to take all the praise after their 4-1 victory at VfL Wolfsburg in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, telling UEFA.com: "Getting older is not always the best thing but I prefer to see my team playing well like today, scoring goals and doing well so I'm really pleased for them."

Even so, with the experience of his 55 years, the Spaniard still believes Wolfsburg have something to play for in next week's second leg in Italy. "We have a lot of respect for Wolfsburg – they're a very good team and in football you never know. You have to concentrate and if we do a good game then we have a great advantage – but we still have to play 90 minutes."

Five lessons from Wolfsburg 1-4 Napoli

VfL Wolfsburg were shown up defensively and for inexperience by an SSC Napoli at the peak of their game as reporter Matthias Rötters analyses the 4-1 away win.
Wolfsburg problems at back
VfL Wolfsburg's attacking qualities are not in doubt: 62 goals in 28 Bundesliga matches (behind only FC Bayern München on 74), 22 goals in 11 UEFA Europa League matches – that's more than OK. However, the 4-1 quarter-final first-leg home defeat by SSC Napoli showed once again that Dieter Hecking has to improve Wolfsburg's defensive play if the side seemingly destined to finish second in the Bundesliga are to be contenders in the UEFA Champions League next season. "We made mistakes today, which we normally don't make," goalkeeper Diego Benaglio said.

The boys in green are too greenWolfsburg have youth on their side but Kevin De Bruyne (23), Kevin Knoche (22), Ricardo Rodriguez (22) and Josuha Guilavogui (24) are lacking in terms of European experience, while the likes of Bas Dost, Naldo, Daniel Caligiuri and Vieirinha have not been playing at the highest level in recent years. This lack of experience shows in matches against 'big teams' with 'big names' from the 'big leagues'; against Everton FC they lost 4-1 and 2-0, and the Napoli defeat was even worse.   

Napoli can win in Germany
"It's a nice birthday present for me and a historically good thing for our club as well," said Napoli coach Rafael Benítez as he turned 55 on the day of the Wolfsburg game. It was Napoli's first UEFA competition win in Germany, and a deserved one. Benítez said: "They created some chances, but we created even more and managed to score from them. I'm really happy with the way my team played. It's good for our confidence as well."

Higuaín and Hamšík are Champions League-standard
Gonzalo Higuaín and Marek Hamšík are one of the most dangerous strike partnerships in Europe. Against Wolfsburg they converted the first two chances in the game, pretty much deciding the tie. The Argentinian is now on seven goals in this season's UEFA Europa League, with the Slovakian on four. Against Wolfsburg, it was obvious that both started the season in the UEFA Champions League (Napoli lost out to Athletic Club in the play-offs) and are still at that level. World champion André Schürrle said: "Those two players made the difference today. If you give them too much space, they will score. That's it." 

Napoli favourites for Warsaw glory
Napoli's success away to the team second in the Bundesliga has surely established them as favourites to triumph in Warsaw next month. "Our journey is not finished yet," said Benítez, no stranger to success in UEFA club competition. His side is defensively very strong, conceding an average of under a goal every two games, and are joint top scorers in the competition. "They were defensively compact and offensively ice-cold today," said Wolfsburg manager Hecking.

nguon: uefa