For Rafa Benítez, SSC Napoli head coach, the result at the San Paolo stadium against Dnipro (1-1) was not in line with what they saw on the pitch. The Ukrainian team scored a late equalizer in a clear off side position and decided the final result of the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semifinal. However, the Spanish coach preferred not to waste too much time lamenting and chose to focus on the positives, namely the performance of the team during the ninety minutes particularly in the second half of the game. Napoli was far superior to their rival throughout with many chances at goal. In the post-match press conference the 'azzurro' coach stated: "the game has been decided by an irregularity, the result affected by an offside goal. And the truth is we are very upset because our game was neutralised by such a play. Although I don’t think it is helpful to lament too much. Now we must be responsible and professional and look forward. We must look for a victory in Kiev and achieve this convincingly. We aspire to win there and we will try to do this using all of our strengths".

"To speak of this game is not easy because the offside goal by Dnipro definitively changes the analysis", explained the Spanish coach, who then added that: "it is an incident that changes everything; the result and entire development of this UEFA Europa League semifinal. But I don´t want to focus too much on that. Amongst other things, Dnipro barely took a shot at goal in the first half, I think that says a lot for the work of my players and development of the game". In these terms the head coach of the 'azzurro' team lamented and recognised that: "we are angry with this result, it is true. But my responsibility and experience in these competitions tells me that we must look forward, think of the future, on what we have to come and not look back. We have to play even better in Kiev, we must prepare the game with the same concentration and quality that we have shown this afternoon. We must demonstrate our strength and also our character. Dnipro has confirmed what we already knew, they are a difficult team to beat. But like we did in Germany against Wolfsburg and in Moscow against Dynamo, we can qualify. I think we will play a great game in the second leg because we are very aware of our capabilities and now we are missing something. Something that we have been deprived of by an irregularity in a particular incident".

When asked about the preparation for the game the head coach of Napoli responded: "when we were preparing this game we already expected a game like this. We knew that we would have to play very well against their defence to open spaces. It was not easy. Finally we scored and we enjoyed many chances at goal. Unfortunately we did not capitalize on what we created, but it is not the first time we face a goalkeeper that performs miracles. He played really well, we must congratulate him, he did his job very well".

To finish, Benítez explained to the media what he believes will be the key to qualifying in the UEFA Europa League: "I repeat now we have to focus on the second leg. We can win, I am convinced we have all of the potential necessary to reach the final. They will try to play a defensive game but they cannot risk neglecting the attack. We will step on that pitch with our mentality and if we play a game like today, with the same spirit and mentality we can get through to the final and reach that historic feat".