Napoli vs Sparta Praha preview

Posted Wednesday, September 17, 2014 by PA

Napoli coach Rafael Benitez has demanded an immediate response from his players in their Europa League Group I opener against Sparta Prague at the Stadio San Paolo on Thursday.

Benitez was left disappointed with his side's 1-0 defeat to Chievo in Naples on Sunday in their second Serie A match of the season.

"We need to bounce back immediately and prove that we are a competitive team not only in Italy but in Europe," Benitez said to sscnapoli.it.

"Against Chievo we had 11 goalscoring chances while we took 33 shots and yet we failed to score.

"We clearly need to be more ruthless in front of goal and be stronger mentally."

The Italians return to play in Europe having missed out on Champions League football after losing their play-off tie to Athletic Bilbao last month.

"We need to improve and work hard," Napoli defender Raul Albiol said to Gazzetta dello Sport. "We didn't expect to miss out on the Champions League and to lose against Chievo.

"But I'm confident we will bounce back and hand a better performance against Sparta Prague."

Sparta travel to the Stadio San Paolo looking for their first European away win since a 2-0 triumph at FC Admira Wacker Modlin in August 2012.

Vitezslav Lavicka's men head into the contest on the back of Saturday's goalless result at Teplice that left them in second place in the domestic standings, one point adrift of league leaders Viktoria Plzen after seven games played.

The Czech champions will be without midfielder Lukas Vacha, who is suspended while striker Tomas Prikryl is out injured.

Benitez is set to make some changes to his starting XI, with Dutch midfielder Jonathan De Guzman set to play from the start with Marek Hamsik relegated to the bench.

Moreover, Spanish striker Michu, who joined Napoli this summer on loan from Swansea, could play alongside Duvan Zapata in attack.