Napoli draw German side VfL Wolfsburg in Europa League quarterfinals

The Europa League quarterfinal draw was completed this morning, with Napoli fans hoping for one of the - relatively - easier draws in the pot. All of the teams left are good, but a matchup with Club Brugge or maybe Dynamo Kyiv might have been pretty OK.

The actual result could have gone much, much better though.

Napoli were drawn with German side VfL Wolfsburg, currently second in the Bundesliga and bulldozing their way through all comers since the new year. They've lost just one match since the turn of the calendar, and just finished annihilating Inter Milan to the tune of a 5-2 aggregate win in the Europa League round of 16, including a 2-1 win at the San Siro that was nowhere near as close competitively as the scoreline might make you think. They are, almost inarguably, the best team left in this competition.

Their attack is incredibly potent, with Bas Dost scoring goals for fun, Kevin De Bruyne making every defense he faces look bad, Daniel Caligiuri is rounding in to impressive form, and they've got several other talented attackers hanging around as well, including one-time Napoli transfer target Ivan Perisic and former Chelsea winger Andre Schurrle. This won't be a fun couple of matches for Napoli's defense.

This is a tie that Napoli can win, if they play to the best of their ability. If they can get an away goal or two in Germany and keep the scoreline to within a goal, they've got a chance. If the defense goes to sleep too many times, though, and this could get ugly in a big hurry.

The first leg is in Wolfsburg on April 16th, with the return leg in Naples on the 23rd.