Serie A Preview: Napoli, Fiorentina out to avenge European exits

Napoli have to recover from their UEFA Europa League exit in quick time, as they host relegated Cesena in a crucial Serie A fixture on Monday.

Rafa Benitez’s men exited the semi-finals at the hands of Ukrainian outfit Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, losing the two-leg tie 2-1 on Thursday.

But still in the hunt for the UEFA Champions League next season, the Naples outfit can produce a response at home to second-bottom Cesena at the Stadio San Paolo as they look to put pressure on Roma and Lazio.

Roma (64 points) and Lazio (63) occupy the remaining Champions League spots behind Scudetto winners Juventus (80), but Napoli (60) are well and truly alive for higher European honours next season.

Roma host Udinese on Sunday, after Lazio are on the road at Sampdoria on Saturday.

Cagliari are on the verge of being dumped to Serie B, ahead of their hosting of Palermo on Sunday.

Playing at the same time are Atalanta, who have an eight-point buffer on Cagliari – and if the former defeats Genoa at home, the Sardinians will drop to the second division.

There is a virtual four-way fight for the remaining two UEFA Europa League spots, assuming Napoli have one sealed already.

Fiorentina (fifth, 55 points), Sampdoria (sixth, 54), Genoa (seventh, 53) and Inter (eighth, 52) are all in the race, and are all last-start winners.

Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina, like Napoli, must respond to a poor loss in the Europa League semis, when they succumbed to Sevilla 5-0 on aggregate, in their clash with bottom side Parma on Monday.

Inter will be hoping Juventus are still distracted from booking a spot in the Champions League final, when they do battle at San Siro to open the weekend’s action on Saturday.

Other fixtures at the weekend see Sassuolo host Milan, while Chievo will look to extend a six-game unbeaten streak at Torino, and Empoli and Hellas Verona (both 41 points) go head-to-head.