On-loan Chelsea midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah set Napoli on their way to another big win in Europe on Thursday night.
The 20-year-old, who joined Napoli on a short-term deal in September, netted his first goal for the Serie A side to open the scoring in a 5-2 victory over Legia Warsaw in Europa League Group D.
Chalobah fired Napoli ahead on 32 minutes, before Lorenzo Insigne, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens, who bagged a brace, joined him on the scoresheet.
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Chalobah has yet to feature in Serie A, but he has now made three Europa League appearances for Napoli. His move to Naples was a level up in class on his previous loan spells – he enjoyed mixed success at Reading, Burnley, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Watford.
Napoli, who beat Denmark’s FC Midtjylland 5-0 earlier in their campaign, reached the last 32 as the only team to win all six of their group games in this season’s Europa League.
In winning their group, Napoli became top seeds for Monday’s draw.
Nevertheless, their seeding does not guarantee them an easy tie. Napoli could play one of four unseeded Champions League dropouts – Sevilla, Valencia, Galatasaray or Shakhtar Donetsk – while Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Fenerbahce are other tough opponents they could be paired with.
Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are also seeded, so they too face the prospect of meeting one of the aforementioned sides when the Europa League resumes in February.
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