Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia Toral believes the chances of his side progressing to Europa League last-16 are now 60-40 in their favour after beating Napoli 1-0 at home, even though he rates the Partenopei as the best team in Italy.
Denis Suarez's brilliant late free-kick at El Madrigal was all that separated the teams in a match devoid of many clear-cut chances.
Although it is only a narrow lead to take to the Stadio San Paolo - where Napoli have won 14 of their 17 competitive matches this season, losing only once - Marcelino feels his side are favourites.
"We now have a 60-40 probability, more or less," he said.
"We will go to a very difficult ground, but the 1-0 scoreline means that to knock us out they have to score two goals against us and for us to score none.
"Both things will be difficult for our opponents."
Villarreal boast the second-best defensive record in the Primera Division this season and they kept their 16th clean sheets in all competitions in nullifying Napoli.
The visitors, who left Serie A's leading goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain on the bench until midway through the second half, had a purple patch around the hour-mark but were unable to take advantage as Villarreal's backline once again held firm.
Marcelino added: "We were at an excellent level defensively.
"We've shown again that we're in good form and it's difficult to beat us.
"I would've liked to have created more chances, but you have to take into account what we've achieved today because we were playing a great team.
"At a collective level, Napoli are the best team in Italy. They created few goalscoring chances against us.
"We knew that it was going to be difficult and after a lot of effort we've got a just victory which is important to have a small advantage in the tie."
The one negative for Villarreal was the loss of Jonathan Dos Santos to injury, with the Mexico international carried off on a stretcher in the first half after pulling up holding his hamstring.
"Jonathan's injury has been the worst news of the night," Marcelino said.
"He was in great form and gives us a real boost. We will try to help him back as soon as possible."
Marcelino added in his post-match press conference, in quotes reported on www.villarrealcf.es: "Now we're going to think about Atletico (this weekend) and after Sunday we'll think about the San Paolo clash.
"We know that it will be difficult, but what we're not going to do is gift Napoli the game."
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said: "It was great match, which either team could have won.
"It was a very nice and very even match at a difficult ground where teams like Real Madrid and Atletico have lost this season, which shows how difficult it is to play here.
"The fairest result would've been a draw. For the second time in a few days we've lost in the final stretch in a very similar game," he added, referring to Saturday's table-top Serie A showdown with Juventus, which saw Napoli beaten by an 88th-minute goal.
"I think we've shown that we can beat Villarreal, so I hope we can turn this situation around at home with the help of our fans."
Source: PA
