Vfl Wolfsburg played much better than they did it in the first leg but it wasn't enough. Napoli's 4-1 win in the first leg proved to be too much to overcome, and even though the Serie A outfit were rather poor tonight; they do enough to secure a berth in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
It was Wolfsburg who created the best chances to score in the first-half. The German side had a tough task ahead of themselves after the 1-4 loss last week but they didn't appear to be frightened of the challenge. Instead, they managed to create the clearer scoring chances; however, they were denied on numerous ocassions by Mariano Andujar.
The Argentinian keeper responded every time he was required. Ivan Perisic had a golden chance to score from close range in the first minute, but he was quickly denied by Andujar. Joshua Guilavogui in the 28th minute came close to breaking the deadlock, but his effort was blocked and Andujar came up big once again in the 43rd minute, making a spectacular save of a low shot from Danish forward, Nicklas Bendtner.
As for Napoli, the Italian side were outplayed at times and it seemed as if they didn't have the desire to win this game. Their only clear chance of the first 45 arrived in the 44th minute, when a cross from Dries Mertens found Gonzalo Higuain, but the Argentinian's volley went just wide of the left post. The first-half ended scoreless but it was clear that Wolfsburg deserved better luck after the first 45 minutes.
Things changed quickly in the second half, as Napoli began to look much more dangerous on the counter. In fact, Napoli's first goal was created on a swift counter attack initiated by Higuain on the left side - the Argentinian striker lifted a long pass towards Jose Callejon. The Spaniard's shot from outside the box took a small deflection, before finding the back of the net.
The rest of the second half was completely controlled by Napoli although they didn't create much in the final third. Taking advantage of a Wolfsburg team that looked completely, Napoli scored the second goal around the 65th minute, when Belgian winger Mertens pounced upon a rebound to place the ball past the keeper.
Even though Wolfsburg pulled one back in the 71th minute with a strong header from Timm Klose and later equalized on another header - this time from Croatian forward Perisic after a cross from Guilavogui - the result was all but decided. Napoli's three-goal advantage in the first leg proved to be decisive and the Italian side managed to advance to the next round even though they didn't produce their most inspiring performance.
Manager Rafa Benitez certainly will not be happy with his side's performance; however, there's plenty of time to patch things up as the team will have to focus on the final Serie A games and their semi-final encounter on the Europa League.