Benitez eyes third Europa League prize

RAFAEL Benitez is expecting no favours from Ukraine underdogs Dnipro for his swashbuckling Napoli side, while holders Sevilla await Fiorentina in today’s Europa League semifinal first leg ties.

A third Europa League title is at stake for knockout king Benitez, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, the then Uefa Cup with Valen- cia in 2004 and the Europa League with Chelsea in 2013.

The second legs will be played a week later and the final is in Warsaw on May 27, with a place in next season’s Champions League on offer to the winner for the first time.

Fourth in Serie A and fresh from a 3-0 win over AC Milan, Napoli’s free-scoring football has Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain as a spearhead. He has seven goals in the competition.

Little known Dnipro are the former rocket factory side that twice won the old Soviet League and have been a topfour side for much of the past 20 seasons in Ukraine.

Benitez said he would pay them every respect.

“Dnipro have already shown their capacity and potential by beating teams like Olympiakos, Ajax and Bruges,” he said.

Napoli are, however, hot favourites despite this being their first European semifinal since the side won the Uefa Cup in 1989.

The competition’s other Italian survivor, Fiorentina, are led by former Italy striker Vincenzo Montella, and while they lack a little of the killer instinct, they can be counted on to attack.

Their hosts, holders Sevilla, are bidding for an unprecedented fourth Europa League title in 10 competitions.

They have seen off Borussia Monchengladbach, Villarreal and Zenit St Petersburg. They are currently fifth in La Liga.

Fiorentina will present an interesting challenge in the first leg, having been unbeaten in their last 12 away games in Europe. – AFP