Napoli punish 9-man Nice, Sevilla win
Paris, Aug. 17: Napoli took a big step towards the Champions League group stage with a 2-0 win over outclassed nine-man Nice in their play-off, first-leg in Italy on Wednesday.
The Riviera side were down to nine men after 79 minutes when Alassane Pléa was sent off for a second yellow card just after Vincent Koziello’s straight dismissal.
Belgian midfielder Dries Mertens had slotted in the opener after 13 minutes with Jorginho doubling the hosts’ account with a penalty after 70 minutes.
It was a third straight defeat for Lucien Favre’s side who have lost their first two French Ligue 1 matches, and travelled without Mario Balotelli and new signing Wesley Sneijder.
Napoli, third in Serie A and in the Champions League last 16 last year, were a class above the French punishing defensive errors in front of a delighted 50,000 home fans at the San Paolo Stadium.
“At this stage of the season, we can say we played a great match,” said Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri. “We were playing against a team who were more advanced than us in physical preparations, so the risk was very high.”
Maurizio Sarri’s side are now ideally placed to join Juventus and AS Roma in the group stage as Nice have it all to do in the return home leg in the Allianz Riviera stadium on August 22.
Spanish side Sevilla also set themselves up for a place in the group stage alongside Liga rivals Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid by beating Istanbul Basaksehir 21 in Turkey.
Franco-Tunisian forward Wisam Ben Yedder, picked up a backheeled pass from Jesus Navas, to seal the winner six minutes from time.
Sergio Escudero opened for Sevilla after 16 minutes with Eljero Elia getting the equaliser after 64 minutes.
A Scott Sinclair double helped Celtic to a 5-0 thrashing of Astana in their play-off round first leg in Glasgow.
Elsewhere, Hapoel BeerSheva beat Maribor of Slovenia 2-1 at home in Israel while Olympiacos beat Croatian side Rijeka by the same score in Greece. — AFP