Maurizio Sarri has admitted he will prefer to meet Napoli in the finals of the UEFA Europa League than in the quarter-finals.
Sarri guided Chelsea to an 8-0 aggregate win over Dynamo Kiev in the round of 16 tie and the Italian expressed his delight at his side’s ruthlessness in the second leg which ended 5-0 on Thursday.
Oliver Giroud scored a hat-trick while Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Odoi also got on the scoresheet.
“We started very well. We wanted to start in this way because it was important to score after the result in Stamford Bridge.
“We were able to score after five minutes. For the opponent, it was a difficult situation,” Sarri said in his post-match interview.
“We played a very good first half. In the second we managed the result. It was a wonderful performance for 90 minutes. It was very, very good. In the last period every time he has been on the pitch he was
able to play really very well.
“He scored nine goals in this competition. Olivier is a very important player for us. I am very happy for him and his hat-trick, and I am very happy with him.”
“I prefer to find them (Napoli) in the final! First of all, because it means we are in the final and I am happy.”
“And second because it means Napoli are in the final and I’m happy. Because of my relationship with
the city and the people, for me it would be very difficult to play against them in Naples.”
Chelsea’s next game is against Everton at Goodison Park. The Blues are currently sixth in the Premier League table with 57 points from 29 games.
