Europa League semi-finals: Dnipro host Napoli while Sevilla travel to Fiorentina

The Europa League semi-finals conclude on Thursday with Sevilla well on the way to the final ahead of their second leg with Fiorentina, but Dnipro and Napoli have it all to play for in Ukraine.

Reigning champions Sevilla beat Fiorentina 3-0 at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium while Napoli were pegged back late on at home to Dnipro meaning they need a result when they travel to Kiev.

Dnipro v Napoli (1-1)

Rafa Benitez’s Napoli travel to Dnipro with their Europa League semi-final tie finely poised after last week’s 1-1 draw at the Stadio San Paolo.

The former Liverpool manager is aiming to win the trophy for a third different club after previous successes with Valencia and Chelsea in 2004 and 2013 respectively. Add in his Champions League triumph with Liverpool in 2005 and another Europa League win would be his fourth major European crown.

Napoli captain Marek Hamsik pointed to the Spaniard’s attention to detail as a reason for his success and stressed the determination of everyone at the club to win the trophy.

He's an experienced coach at this level, who will certainly prepare us well to reach our target.

“He makes himself heard and communicates well with his staff,” Hamsik told uefa.com, speaking about Benitez.

“He's an experienced coach at this level, who will certainly prepare us well to reach our target. We all want to win the trophy; the kit men, club doctors, players – right up to the coach. In football you want to win.”

Napoli face a tough challenge to progress to the final, however, after Yevhen Seleznyov’s controversial late strike cancelled out David Lopez’s header and gave Dnipro a vital away goal.

The Ukrainians are formidable opponents on home soil and have already got the better of Ajax, Olympiakos and Club Brugge at their temporay ground, the NSK Olimpiyskyi.

Napoli would not be the first Italian side to beat Dnipro men on their own patch this season though. Inter Milan edged a tight contest 1-0 in the group stages.

Dnipro will be without Ondřej Mazuch (knee), Roman Zozulya (knee) and Serhiy Kravchenko (unspecified) while Yevhen Shakhov is doubtful for the clash.

Jonathan De Guzman (thigh) is a doubt for Napoli with Michu (thigh) and Juan Zuniga (knee) are ruled out.

Fiorentina v Sevilla (0-3)

Sevilla look to have one foot in the final ahead of Thursday’s second leg in Florence having cruised to a 3-0 home win in the first meeting.

Fiorentina had no reply to a double from Aleix Vidal and one from Kevin Gameiro and now face an uphill battle to get past Unai Emery’s side.

Emery guided the Sevilla to their third Europa League win last year to cap a strong first full season in charge of the club and they are now in a strong position to be able to retain their trophy in the final in Warsaw.

Fiorentina have won four of their six European semi-finals, but lost the most recent one on penalties following 210 goalless minutes against Rangers in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.

If Vincenzo Montella’s side can take this tie as far as penalties then they will have done more than most expect on Thursday having been outplayed in Spain in the first leg.

The Italians will be without a number of important players with Khoumar Babacar (knee), Micah Richards (hamstring), Juan Manuel Vargas (adductors) and Giuseppe Rossi (knee) all missing through injury.

Nicolas Pareja (knee) is ruled for Sevilla while Emery must wait to see if Stephane Mbia (head) and Beto (shoulder) are fit to play any part.