UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2020/21 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Estadio Municipal Nuevo Los Cármenes - Granada Thursday 18 February 2021 Granada CF 21.00CET (21.00 local time) SSC Napoli Round of 32, First leg Last updated 09/04/2021 11:49CET Previous meetings 2 Match background 4 Team facts 6 Squad list 8 Fixtures and results 10 Match-by-match lineups 14 Match officials 17 Legend 19 1 Granada CF - SSC Napoli Thursday 18 February 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Estadio Municipal Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada Previous meetings Head to Head No UEFA competition matches have been played between these two teams Granada CF - Record versus clubs from opponents' country Granada CF have not played against a club from their opponents' country SSC Napoli - Record versus clubs from opponents' country UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers SSC Napoli - Real Sociedad de Zieliński 35; Willian 10/12/2020 GS 1-1 Naples Fútbol José 90+2 Real Sociedad de Fútbol - SSC 29/10/2020 GS 0-1 San Sebastian Politano 56 Napoli UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Lenglet 10, Messi 23, 3-1 08/08/2020 R16 FC Barcelona - SSC Napoli Barcelona Luis Suárez 45+1 (P); agg: 4-2 Insigne 45+5 (P) Mertens 30; 25/02/2020 R16 SSC Napoli - FC Barcelona 1-1 Naples Griezmann 57 UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Mertens 24; Ramos 1-3 07/03/2017 R16 SSC Napoli - Real Madrid CF Naples 52, Mertens 57 (og), agg: 2-6 Morata 90+1 Benzema 18, Kroos 15/02/2017 R16 Real Madrid CF - SSC Napoli 3-1 Madrid 49, Casemiro 54; Insigne 8 UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 1-1 25/02/2016 R32 SSC Napoli - Villarreal CF Naples Hamšík 17; Pina 59 agg: 1-2 18/02/2016 R32 Villarreal CF - SSC Napoli 1-0 Villarreal Denis Suárez 82 UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Aritz Aduriz 61, 69, 3-1 27/08/2014 PO Athletic Club - SSC Napoli Bilbao Ibai Gómez 74; agg: 4-2 Hamšík 47 Higuaín 68; Muniain 19/08/2014 PO SSC Napoli - Athletic Club 1-1 Naples 41 UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 07/12/2011 GS Villarreal CF - SSC Napoli 0-2 Villarreal Inler 65, Hamšík 76 2 Granada CF - SSC Napoli Thursday 18 February 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Estadio Municipal Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada UEFA Champions League Hamšík 15, Cavani 17 27/09/2011 GS SSC Napoli - Villarreal CF 2-0 Naples (P) UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 2-1 Nilmar 42, Rossi 24/02/2011 R32 Villarreal CF - SSC Napoli Villarreal agg: 2-1 45+1; Hamšík 18 17/02/2011 R32 SSC Napoli - Villarreal CF 0-0 Naples UEFA Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 1-0 30/09/1992 R1 SSC Napoli - Valencia CF Naples Fonseca 8 agg: 6-1 Roberto 56; Fonseca 16/09/1992 R1 Valencia CF - SSC Napoli 1-5 Valencia 20, 60, 64, 87, 90 European Champions Clubs' Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 1-1 Francini 9; 30/09/1987 R1 SSC Napoli - Real Madrid CF Naples agg: 1-3 Butragueño 43 Míchel 19 (P), 16/09/1987 R1 Real Madrid CF - SSC Napoli 2-0 Madrid Tendillo 76 Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA Granada CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SSC Napoli 9 2 6 1 9 3 0 6 0 0 0 0 18 5 6 7 21 23 3 Granada CF - SSC Napoli Thursday 18 February 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Estadio Municipal Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada Match background European debutants Granada's reward for a successful UEFA Europa League group stage is a plum tie with Italian heavyweights Napoli in the round of 32. • The Spanish club were runners-up to PSV Eindhoven in Group E with three wins, two draws and a solitary defeat – 0-1 at home to the Dutch side on Matchday 5 – that nevertheless coincided with their qualification. Napoli were taken to Matchday 6 before their place in the knockout phase was assured, a 1-1 draw at home to Real Sociedad enabling them to go through as winners of Group F. Previous meetings • Granada are facing Italian opposition in UEFA competition for the first time. • Napoli's 2019/20 European campaign ended in Spain as Barcelona overcame them 3-1 at the Camp Nou in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 to complete a 4-2 aggregate victory. A 1-0 win in San Sebastián on Matchday 2 this season means the Partenopei's all-time record in Spain is now W3 L6, that victory over Real Sociedad ending a run of four straight defeats against Spanish hosts. • The Italian side have lost six of their seven two-legged knockout ties against Spanish opposition including all of the last five, their sole success coming against Valencia in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round thanks to a 5-1 first-leg success in Spain that remains their joint biggest European away win. Form guide Granada • Granada earned a historic first qualification for European competition by finishing seventh in the 2019/20 Spanish Liga, having been promoted just the season before. • Diego Martínez's side began the club's maiden continental voyage in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, kicking off with a 4-0 win at Albanian side Teuta before sealing further progress with a 2-0 home win against Locomotive Tbilisi of Georgia and a 3-1 play-off success against Malmö in southern Sweden. • The Andalusian side made an impressive start to Group E, winning 2-1 at PSV, and although they lost the return fixture, a double over Omonia (2-0 a, 2-1 h) and two goalless draws against PAOK enabled them to advance into the round of 32 in the Dutch club's slipstream. • Granada's record in this debut European campaign is W6 D2 L1. They have conceded just four goals in those nine matches, never more than one in a game. Napoli • After four successive seasons in the UEFA Champions League, Napoli returned to the UEFA Europa League this term – as winners of the Coppa Italia, which they claimed under new coach Gennaro Gattuso after a penalty shoot-out victory against Juventus in the goalless final. Seventh in Serie A, they also reached the UEFA Champions League round of 16 after qualifying unbeaten as runners-up to Liverpool in their group. • The 1988/89 UEFA Cup winners have competed in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase on seven previous occasions, four times after coming through their group. They have never failed to qualify from their section and progressed as group winners for the third time this season, recovering from an opening 0-1 home defeat by AZ Alkmaar to qualify on 11 points, two more than Real Sociedad and three more than AZ, with whom they drew 1-1 in the Matchday 5 return. Six of their points came at the expense of bottom-placed Rijeka (2-1 a, 2-0 h). • Napoli have won only three of their seven previous UEFA Europa League round of 32 ties, against Swansea in 2013/14 (0-0 a, 3-1 h), Trabzonspor the following season (4-0 a, 1-0 h), when they progressed all the way to the semi- finals, and Zürich in 2018/19 (3-1 a, 2-0 h). They have fallen twice to Spanish side Villarreal at this juncture, in 2010/11 (0-0 h, 1-2 a) and 2015/16 (0-1 a, 1-1 h), and also to Viktoria Plzeň in 2012/13 (0-3 h, 0-2 a) and Leipzig in 2017/18 (1-3 h, 2-0 a). • While Napoli are on an unbeaten away run of seven matches in the UEFA Europa League group stage (W5 D2), they have lost their last two games outside Italy in the competition's knockout phase, giving them an away record post-Christmas of W4 D2 L7. UEFA Europa League squad changes • Granada In: None Out: None • Napoli In: None 4 Granada CF - SSC Napoli Thursday 18 February 2021 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Estadio Municipal Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada Out: None Links and trivia • Granada pair Maxime Gonalons (Roma 2017/18) and Darwin Machís (Udinese 2018/19) have both played for Italian clubs. • Napoli's Greek international defender Kostas Manolas played alongside Gonalons at Roma. • Domingos Duarte (Granada) and Mário Rui (Napoli) are fellow Portugal internationals. • Fabián Ruiz is an Andalusia-born Spanish international who played in his homeland for both Real Betis and Elche before joining Napoli in 2018. He helped his country to victory in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alongside Granada's Jesús Vallejo. • Napoli's Slovakian midfielder Stanislav Lobotka played in Spain for Celta Vigo from July 2017 to January 2020. • Napoli are one of six former UEFA Cup winners in this season's round of 32 – along with Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, PSV Eindhoven, Shakhtar Donetsk and Tottenham Hotspur. • One of six UEFA Europa League group stage debutants in 2020/21, Granada are now one of five clubs appearing in the knockout phase of the competition for the first time, the others being Antwerp, Hoffenheim, Leicester City and Wolfsberg.