Despite having 2 goals in caps when visiting San Paolo, with poor form away from home, Arsenal are still predicted to face many difficulties against Napoli.
Compared to the first leg a week ago, coach Unai Emery only made one change to the starting lineup, which was Mesut Ozil having to make way for Granit Xhaka. Meanwhile, on the other side of the front line, coach Carlo Ancelotti renewed the attack with the appearance of Arkadiusz Milik to replace Dries Mertens.
After the opening whistle, despite being away, Arsenal still played offensively against the home team. ARsenal dominated the first 15 minutes of the match. However, Napoli was the team with the first dangerous chance.
In the 17th minute, from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's loss of the ball, the home team players organized a very quick counter-attack but unfortunately, Jose Callejon could not defeat Petr Cech.
The following minutes saw Napoli dominate and continuously put pressure on Cech's goal. In the 24th minute, the Czech Republic goalkeeper's net shook, but fortunately for Arsenal, Milik was offside earlier. 4 minutes later, the Polish high-choice striker was given the opportunity but his escape and header was inaccurate.
In the 31st minute, Arsenal suffered a huge loss when Aaron Ramsey, the best player in the first leg, suffered a hamstring injury and had to give way to Erikh Mkhitaryan.
In the 35th minute, when Lacazette was knocked down right in front of the medium. The French player took the free kick himself, drawing a beautiful vong to the far corner to open the score of the match.
The unexpected goal made the task extremely difficult for Napoli. In the remaining time of the first half, the home team had a few more chances but the impatience made the shots of Callejon, Zielinski and Insigne inaccurate.
Right after the break, coach Ancelotti decided to " lay off" by bringing on Mertens to replace defender Maksimovic. However, when the change was not effective, Napoli almost conceded a second goal in the 48th minute if Meret did not make an excellent save after Aubameyang's close-range shot.
Napoli has a lot of possession (always around 70% of possession time), but on a day when Arsenal's defense is extremely focused, almost every cross that leads to Cech's goal is blocked.
The home team's high balls or cross-ins were not difficult to neutralize. When given the opportunity, Milik was too unlucky.
The closer to the end of the match, the more the Napoli players showed signs of fatigue and showed signs of giving up, making it much easier for Arsenal to play.
Convincingly winning 3-0 after two matches, Arsenal advanced to the semi-finals to meet Valencia - the team that eliminated Villareal with a total score of 5-1. In the other semi-final match, Chelsea will face the Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.
