UEFA Europa League - 2020/21 SeasonMatch press kits

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 (0-1), 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 fourth 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.

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, while Granada's Ramon Azeez and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen both play for Nigeria.

• 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 appearing in the knockout phase of the competition for the first time, the others being Antwerp, Hoffenheim, Leicester City and Wolfsberg.

Granada CF
Formed: 1931
Nickname: Nazaríes (Nasrids), El Graná

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• None

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
None

Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise)
2019/20: did not take part in UEFA competition
2018/19: did not take part in UEFA competition
2017/18: did not take part in UEFA competition
2016/17: did not take part in UEFA competition
2015/16: did not take part in UEFA competition
2014/15: did not take part in UEFA competition
2013/14: did not take part in UEFA competition
2012/13: did not take part in UEFA competition
2011/12: did not take part in UEFA competition
2010/11: did not take part in UEFA competition

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
2-0: Granada v Locomotive Tbilisi
24/09/20, UEFA Europa League third qualifying round

• Biggest away win
0-4: Teuta v Granada
17/09/20, UEFA Europa League second qualifying round

• Heaviest home defeat
0-1: Granada v PSV Eindhoven
03/12/20, UEFA Europa League group stage

• Heaviest away defeat
N/A

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
• Biggest home win
2-0: Granada v Locomotive Tbilisi (see above)

• Biggest away win
0-4: Teuta v Granada (see above)

• Heaviest home defeat
0-1: Granada v PSV Eindhoven (see above)

• Heaviest away defeat
N/A

SSC Napoli
Formed: 1926
Nickname: Partenopei (a reference to Parthenope, one of the Sirens of Greek mythology)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• UEFA Cup (1): 1989

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
League title: 2 (1990)
Italian Cup: 6 (2020)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise)
2019/20: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2018/19: quarter-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2017/18: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2016/17: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2015/16: round of 32
2014/15: semi-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs)
2013/14: round of 16 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2012/13: round of 32
2011/12: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2010/11: round of 32

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
5-0 three times, most recently v Midtjylland
05/11/15, UEFA Europa League group stage

• Biggest away win
1-5: Valencia v Napoli
16/09/92, UEFA Cup first round first leg
0-4: Trabzonspor v Napoli
19/02/15, UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg

• Heaviest home defeat
0-3: Napoli v Viktoria Plzeň
14/02/13, UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Werder Bremen v Napoli
06/12/89, UEFA Cup third round second leg

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
• Biggest home win
5-0 three times, most recently v Midtjylland (see above)

• Biggest away win
1-5: Valencia v Napoli (see above)
0-4: Trabzonspor v Napoli (see above)

• Heaviest home defeat
0-3: Napoli v Viktoria Plzeň (see above)

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Werder Bremen v Napoli (see above)