Goal fest at Maradona Stadium - Napoli and Leicester fired from all cylinders but the Italians push through

In the most resonating Europa League match of the evening, Serie A table toppers Napoli and Leicester City gifted us with quite a match. Weather was to 'blame' partialy since heavy rain hit Naples, making it harder for the goalkeepers but nevertheless, a marvelous display from both sides - final score 3-2 in the south of Italy.

Neapolitans were ahead after four minutes already via Algerian midfielder Adam Ounas. Youri Tielemans made a mistake, Ounas pounced on the loose ball inside the box and tricked the goalkeeper with a shot into the bottom left corner.

It was quite a shock for Brendan Rogers' men who needed a good result in order to proceed to the knock out stages of the competition but more shock came in the 24th minute.

Andrea Petagna served the ball on a plate for Elif Elmas, who scored with a simple close-range finish to distance the Italians on the scoreboard.

However, the two goal advantage did not last long. Two quick goals from the visitors leveled the score.

First it was defender Jonny Evans who scored in the 27th minute and shortly after young Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall launched an excellent first-time shot from the edge of the box to the bottom right corner.

The two outfits continued in the same manner in the second half with Napoli dominant. Ounas blew a good opportunity in the 47th minute - he fired a terrific shot from the edge of the box towards the right side of the goal, but Kasper Schmeichel made a brilliant save. Four minutes later Elmas rose above the defence to meet a cross from the corner - his timing was good but he directed his header just a few inches wide of the left post.

However the North Macedonian was more accurate shortly after. Giovanni Di Lorenzo produced a sweet pass and found Elmas inside the box - he quickly took a shot which went into the middle of the net, leaving the Danish goalkeeper helpless.

Leicester responded via James Maddison in the 56th minute - the Englishman threw the chance away as his shot from inside the box rattled the right post.

After Maddison's opportunity it all died down a bit. Leicester tried with few attempts but those were not dangerous enough. Rogers will have to try and look for European glory in the newly established competition - UEFA Conference League.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad pushed Dutch side PSV to the Conference League with a confident 3-0 win in Basque Country while Lyon and Rangers drawed in the south of France leaving Sparta Prague sitting third in group A.

Also, in the green-and-white match up, Celtic defeated Real Betis at Celtic Park but did not manage to continue their Europa League journey.

First half goal by Milik won all three points for Olympique Marseille against Lokomotiva Moskow but the French side moves down to the UEFA Conference League.

Bayer Leverkusen were stunned by Hungarian side Ferencvaros but it had no weight as the German side were already certified group leaders even with this loss.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Group stage - matchday 6

Thursday

Fenerbahce - Eintr.Frankfurt 1-1 (1-1)

/Berisha 49 - Sow 29/

Antwerp - Olympiakos 1-0 (1-0)

/Balikwisha 7/

Sparta Praha - Brondby 2-0 (1-0)

/Hancko 43, Hlozek 49/

Olympique Lyon - Rangers 1-1 (0-1)

/Bassey 49 og - Wright 42/

Legia - Spartak Moscow 0-1 (0-1)

/Bakaev 17/

Napoli - Leicester 3-2 (2-2)

/Ounas 4, Elmas 24, 53 - Evans 27, Dewsbury-Hall 33/

Sturm - Monaco 1-1 (1-1)

/Jantscher 7 pen -/Volland 30/

Sociedad - PSV 3-0 (1-0)

/Oyarzabal 43 pen, 62, Sorloth 90+3/

Ludogorets - Midtjylland 0-0

Lazio - Galatasaray 0-0

Olympique Marseille - Lok.Moscow 1-0 (1-0)

/Milik 35/

Celtic - Betis 3-2 (1-0)

/Welsh 3, Henderson 72, Turnbull 78 - Bain 69 og, Iglesias 75/

Ferencvaros - Leverkusen 1-0 (0-0)

/Laidouni 82/

Braga - Crvena Zvezda 1-1 (0-0)

/Galeno 52 pen - Katai 70 pen/

Genk - Rapid 0-1 (0-1)

/Ljubicic 29/

West Ham - Dinamo Zagreb 0-1 (0-1)

/Orsic 4/

***odds are subject to change