Napoli crash out of Europa League despite win

SERIE A leaders Napoli crashed out of the Europa League on away goals at the last-32 stage, despite beating RB Leipzig 2-0 in Germany.

The Italians had it all to do having been stunned 3-1 by Leipzig in the first leg at Stadio San Paolo a week ago.

Napoli led in Germany through Piotr Zielinski’s 32nd-minute opener and Lorenzo Insigne’s 86th-minute strike gave them hope of an improbable success but their fifth consecutive victory away from home was not enough.

Fellow Serie A side Lazio did manage to overturn a first-leg deficit as Ciro Immobile bagged a hat-trick in their 5-1 thrashing of Steaua Bucharest.

The visitors to Rome held a slender 1-0 advantage but Immobile’s treble, and further strikes from Bastos and Felipe Anderson, saw Lazio through.

Atletico Madrid, favourites to win the competition, are into the last 16 following a 5-1 aggregate success over Copenhagen, with Kevin Gameiro scoring in a 1-0 second-leg success for Atleti.

Lyon, whose stadium will host the final, also won 1-0 at Villarreal to secure a 4-1 success over the two legs.

Lokomotiv Moscow eliminated another French outfit Nice as their 1-0 victory gave them a 4-2 aggregate win while Dynamo Kiev’s 0-0 draw with AEK Athens saw the former progress by virtue of the away-goals rule.

A 3-3 draw between Sporting Lisbon and Astana was enough for the Portuguese club to go through 6-4 on aggregate, and Viktoria Plzen joined them in the last 16 thanks to a 3-1 aggregate success over Partizan Belgrade.

Arsene Wenger