Napoli v Dnipro background

SSC Napoli and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have met before in the UEFA Europa League, with the Italian side having good reason to hope they might kick off their semi-final tie with a solid home win.

Previous meetings
• The sides met in the group stage of the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League; Juande Ramos's Dnipro won the home leg 3-1 (Fedetskiy 2, Matheus 42, Giuliano 64; Cavani 75p) but Walter Mazzarri's Napoli won the return fixture 4-2 (Cavani 7, 77, 88, 90+3; Fedetskiy 34, Zozulya 52). Edinson Cavani scored four goals in that game and five overall against Dnipro.

• The teams for that game in Naples on 8 November 2012 were:
Napoli: Rosati, Donadel (Hamšík* 55), Britos*, Aronica (Pandev 72), Cavani, Dossena, Vargas (Insigne 56), Mesto*, Dzemaili, Fernández, Inler*
Dnipro: Laštůvka*, Mazuch*, Mandziuk, Kankava*, Konoplyanka* (Cheberyachko* 81), Zozulya*, Denisov, Odibe, Rotan*, Fedetskiy* (Matheus* 86), Aliyev (Giuliano 56).
*eligible to play for the club in this season's UEFA Europa League.

Form guide
• Dnipro are Napoli's only previous Ukrainian opponents.

• Dnipro's record in eight UEFA games against Italian clubs is: W1 D1 L6 (W1 D1 L2 at home; W0 D0 L4 in Italy). They have lost their last five games against Italian sides, including two meetings with FC Internazionale Milano in this season's group stage.

• Napoli are unbeaten in 12 European home games (W9 D3) since a 3-0 loss to FC Viktoria Plzeň in February 2013 – their heaviest European home defeat.

• Dnipro's record away from home in Europe this season is W1 D4 L3. Their only away win in their last ten European games on their travels (W1 D4 L5) was a 2-1 success at FK Qarabağ in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Napoli have not reached the semi-finals of a major UEFA tournament since they won the UEFA Cup in 1988/89, beating VfB Stuttgart over two legs in the final.

• Dnipro's biggest previous European successes were making it to the quarter-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1984/85 and 1989/90.

Trivia and links
• Napoli's Gonzalo Higuaín is the top scorer left in the competition with seven goals – Everton FC's Romelu Lukaku and former FC Salzburg forward Alan scored eight before their clubs were eliminated.

• Dnipro's Yevhen Konoplyanka remains the most fouled player in the competition. He has been impeded 41 times since the start of the group stage, 15 more than any other player.

• Napoli's Croatian left-back Ivan Strinić joined the club from Dnipro in December, having made four appearances in this season's group stage. The 27-year-old was reportedly the club's record signing when he arrived from HNK Hajduk Split in 2011. He is not eligible to play for Napoli in this season's competition.

• Dnipro's Czech centre-back Ondřej Mazuch played in Italy for fellow UEFA Europa League semi-finalists ACF Fiorentina from 2007–09.

• Napoli are one of two former UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League winners left in the competition, along with holders Sevilla FC (2006, 2007, 2014).

• Dnipro started 2014/15 in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, meaning they have had the longest journey (16 games) to make it to the semi-finals. Napoli started off in the UEFA Champions League play-offs and it has taken them 14 games to get to the last four.

• Napoli are the top scorers in this season's UEFA Europa League with 25 goals since the start of the group stage, an average of 2.08 goals per game. Dnipro have scored just 11 goals in 12 games since the start of the group stage, an average of 0.92 goals per game.

• Semi-final debutants Dnipro have committed (210) and suffered (199) the most fouls in this season's competition. They have also received the most yellow cards: 43, ten more than any other side.

• Napoli have had the most attempts on target since the start of the group stage (88) and have hit the woodwork nine times in this season's competition.

• Italian sides have won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League nine times – more than any other nation, though there have been no wins since Parma FC took the trophy in 1998/99. However, Spain is catching up fast, with eight victories to date – six in the last 11 years.

• Zenit's elimination in the quarter-finals means that – for the first time since the advent of the UEFA Cup group stage in 2004/05 – none of the sides that transferred over from the UEFA Champions League at the end of the group stage have made it to the semi-finals.

The coaches
• Dnipro coach since May 2014, Myron Markevych started out as a midfielder with home-town club FC Karpaty Lviv. While his playing career was not a huge success, he served Karpaty in four spells as a coach before a lengthy stint at FC Metalist Kharkiv earned him a reputation for attacking football. He briefly coached Ukraine in 2010.

• Napoli coach since May 2013, Rafael Benítez won two Spanish titles and the 2003/04 UEFA Cup with Valencia CF, the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League with Liverpool FC and the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League with Chelsea FC. The Spaniard lifted the Coppa Italia in his first Napoli campaign. Benítez could match Giovanni Trapattoni in becoming only the second coach to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League for a third time.

• Benítez (Chelsea, 2013) and Sevilla's Unai Emery (Sevilla, 2014) have both won the UEFA Europa League before. Benitez is the only coach in the semi-finals to have won the UEFA Champions League.

• Benítez has not been beaten in his last 24 home games as a coach in UEFA competition (W20 D4); he never lost a home match with FC Internazionale Milano, Chelsea FC or Napoli, with his most recent home defeat a 2-1 reverse against Fiorentina with Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 9 December 2009.