The Team That Will Make Chelsea Not Go Through to The Semi-Final in Europa League

Chelsea will discover their quarter-final opponents today at 12pm UK time after qualifying for the last-eight in empathic style against Dynamo Kiev.

Olivier Giroud bagged a hat-trick in Ukraine on Thursday night to make him the competition’s top scorer this season with nine goals and claim a dominant 8-0 aggregate win.

With no restrictions on intra-country ties, the Blues can face any one of Arsenal, Benfica, Frankfurt, Napoli, Slavia Prague, Valencia or Villareal.

Unlike recent years, the route to the final will then be drawn so teams will also know their potential opponents for the next round.

There is one team which Sarri is hoping to avoid until the final on May 29, however.

That side is Napoli – the club which he left to join Chelsea last summer.

“I prefer to face them in the final,” Sarri said in Kiev last night.

“First of all, because it means we are in the final and I am happy with that. And second, it means that Naples are in the final, and I am happy.

“You know very well my relationship with the city, with the people.

“So, for me, it will be very difficult to play against them in Naples.”

Sarri managed Napoli for three years in his most successful spell as a manager, despite still not being able to furnish his shelf with a trophy during the stint.

The Naples side claimed the most points for a second-placed team in Serie A history last season (91) when they narrowly lost out on the Scudetto to Juventus, and Sarri was credited with making them play in a swashbuckling, possession-based style dubbed ‘Sarriball’.

The 60-year-old has been unable to woo west London with his style, but recently suggested the job at Stamford Bridge is not as tough as the one he inherited at Napoli.

“I think there was more pressure at Napoli,” he said in February.

“Naples is the only city in Italy with only one team, so the pressure from the fans is really big. It’s not my problem. I want to remain the same man. If I am a dreamer, I’m a dreamer.

“If I have fun with my football, I want to play my football. If I believe organisation of the team is everything, I cannot change my mind.”

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