Friday 15 May 2015 08:52, UK
Dnipro advanced to their first European final after Yevhen Seleznyov's second-half header gave them a 2-1 aggregate win over Napoli in the Europa League.
The Ukrainian Premier League outfit will face Sevilla in the final in Warsaw on May 27, after the Spanish side cruised through 5-0 on aggregate over Fiorentina with a 2-0 win in Italy.
Having scored late on in the first leg, Dnipro held a slender advantage heading back to Kiev courtesy of an away goal, and they improved on that with a 1-0 win that sets up a final against the four-time European winners.
Napoli, who had perhaps been favourites to advance after dominating the first leg before conceding late on, were out of the blocks quickly once again and should have taken an early lead as the hosts sought to protect their advantage.
Gonzalo Higuain was the main culprit. He should have opened the scoring in the opening 10 minutes after he was sent through by a superb pass from Gokhan Inler, but the Argentina striker hit a tame effort at Denys Boyko, who saved well to turn it behind.
Higuain continued to pose a threat with his intelligent runs in behind the defence, and almost provided a perfect cross for Jose Callejon only for Leo Matos to head behind, before Higuain saw a header of his own well saved once again by Boyko as the pair carried on their duel from the first leg.
Myron Markevych's side came out in a more positive frame of mind after the break, with Yevhen Konoplyanka growing into the game on the left wing.
The Ukraine winger gave a warning of his dribbling skills before again beating two defenders to stand up a cross to the centre of the area, where Seleznyov was able to hold off the challenge from Raul Albiol to head over a stranded Andujar.
Rafael Benitez's side grew desperate in the closing stages, and the Spanish coach sent on captain Marek Hamsik from the bench along with Dries Mertens, but they could not find their way past an increasingly assured Boyko.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Sevilla weathered an early storm from Fiorentina and took the lead midway through the first half when Carlos Bacca fired into the roof of the net.
Daniel Carrico added a second goal for the visitors five minutes later.
