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The move to the first position in a difficult group could have brought Napoli a certainly better draw, however, Granada are an opponent widely within the reach of Gattuso’s team, unless you want to appeal to the mystique of Spanish teams towards him. ‘European League. Granada finished second in their group more by inertia than by merits: after a brilliant victory on the first day away from home against PSV, they built the stage of the round on the shortage of their rivals, beating Omonia Nicosia and drawing twice 0-0 against Paok Thessaloniki, before losing to the Dutch on the final day. In total they scored 6 goals (less than any other classified team) and conceded 3.
The coach is Diego Martínez, in his forties, who trained at Sevilla, where he was Unai Emery’s assistant (and that’s not a good sign for Napoli, at least on a superstitious level). Since his arrival in 2018 he has achieved an immediate promotion and immediately afterwards a historic seventh place, the best result for the Andalusian club in forty years, which is what allowed him to qualify for the Europa League. Also this season Granada is achieving similar results, to date it is seventh in La Liga, although its performances in the last period have been quite poor (in the last 5 they have combined 3 defeats, a draw and a victory). Granada has one of the worst differences between xG produced and suffered in La Liga (-4.8) and its position in the standings at the moment is perhaps beyond its merits.
The team takes the field with a 4-3-3 (or if you prefer 4-1-4-1) more careful to contain than to attack. The idea is to have a low blocking, almost completely renouncing the pressure for long phases of positional defense, a strategy that so far has worked more in Europe than in LaLiga, where Granada has conceded 20 goals (although it affects the defeat of 6-1 against Atlético de Madrid).
In the defensive phase he lines up with a very compact 4-5-1 that aims to leave no spaces between the lines.
In midfield, Granada lined up Gonalons at the head of the defense, with two dynamic midfielders at their sides, Luis Milla, more technical, and Yangel Herrera, on loan from Manchester City, more athletic. They are perhaps the two most important elements of the team, allowing Diego Martínez to maintain a low center of gravity thanks to his runs and his intensity. Especially Milla, after a long career in the lower leagues, is essential in a team that has little quality.
The creation of opportunities, on the other hand, is almost entirely entrusted to the team’s two wings, Luis Suárez and Darwin Machis, whom you may remember for a quick and not particularly brilliant play towards Udinese. They are the two players who try the most shots and who create the most chances for their teammates. At the center of the attack, Jorge Molina, 38, and Roberto Soldado, 35, now far from the glories of Valencia, alternate.
In short, Granada is not a team with particularly strong skills. It’s certainly not a great technical pace, as the statistics show: it ranks in the top six worst teams in La Liga in possession of the ball, shots on target, precision passing and successful dribbling per game. Even in the round of 32 against Napoli, the idea is for Granada to choose to leave Gattuso’s team in full control of the game. However, even in the defense of the penalty area, the Spanish team showed several limits. In the recent 3-3 draw against Huesca he conceded two goals by insertions from behind that ended with a shot from the heart of the area and a third given by a mess between goalkeeper and defense.
The same game, however, tells what is the somewhat intangible merit of Granada: with two goals with two minutes remaining, he knew how to recover with two heads practically in recovery, risking to win even with a hitting post. in the last seconds of the game. The Spanish are not a good team, their best virtue seems to be “making the rival play badly”, managing to modulate the intensity of their performances at very different levels.
The League accustoms mid-range teams to compete against technically superior rivals, a constant commitment that requires great concentration and that comes in handy in knockout matches, where it is not necessarily important to be the best team, but rather the one that best interprets the game. game. different phases of the two games. It is no coincidence that it is possible to see Spanish teams even though they do not stand out doing well in the Europa League often, like Getafe last year.
Commenting on the pairing, Gattuso was vague: “It’s a difficult and insidious draw. Granada is an excellent team and it will be tough. In the coming weeks he will study his rival better, finding ideas that go beyond the definition of a “mangy” team that many give and that seems to fit Granada, a team whose first imperative is to stay compact, help each other, dirty every opponent’s possession . Napoli will have the ball at their feet for a good part of the 180 minutes of the challenge and will have to show their most proactive version, capable of taking out a close rival with the dribbling and individual technique of their players. However, it seems like a task worthy of Napoli.
