text: Rafa Benitez has admitted he tried to raid former club Chelsea to sign Andre Schurrle before the midfielder joined Wolfsburg in January. The Napoli manager, who won the Europa League as Blues boss in 2013, will see his side line up against the German outfit in the quarter-finals of the competition on Thursday. As well as Schurrle, Benitez also admitted to trying to sign Ivan Perisic and Luiz Gustavo before their January departures to Wolfsburg from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively. Napoli boss Rafael Benitez takes charge of training at the Wolfsburg Arena . Gonzalo Higuain works with the ball ahead of the Europa League quarter-final at the Wolfsburg Arena . Lorenzo Insigne performs during the training session on the eve of the quarter-final . Dynamo Kiev vs Fiorentina . Club Bruges vs Dnipro . Sevilla vs Zenit . Wolfsburg vs Napoli . All kick-offs 8.05pm BST . 'It’s true we tracked Luiz Gustavo, Ivan Perisic and Andre Schurrle for a long time, but it was not possible to sign them,' Benitez said. 'Wolfsburg are a strong side with huge potential, so we will give 100 per cent in this difficult game.' Napoli travel to Wolfsburg for the first leg of the quarter-final and Benitez also added that his team had more character than his Europa League winning Chelsea team, as well as his Liverpool outfit who won the Champions League in 2005 . 'Looking at the character, this is perhaps the best team I've ever had, Benitez said. 'They are excellent professionals. My team are ready for this and hopefully we'll have the killer instinct which is missing sometimes. Wolfsburg striker Nicklas Bendtner tests his agility during a training session before the European tie . Former Chelsea midfielder Kevin de Bruyne also trained with Wolfsburg . Luiz Gustavo, linked with a January move to Napoli, trains on the eve of the Europa League tie for Wolfsburg . 'Wolfsburg have a physically strong team so we have to look at ourselves, show our quality on the pitch. 'Many of Wolfsburg's players could easily slot into our team. They have a lot of quality and that's why we will show them as much respect as they deserve. With Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton having already been dumped out, there are no English teams in the last eight as Dynamo Kiev face Fiorentina, Club Bruges take on Dnipro and holders Sevilla host Zenit. Andre Schurrle was a target for Rafa Benitez before the German midfielder left Chelsea to join Wolfsburg. Here he reaches for the ball in a league game against Stuttgart earlier in April . Benitez takes his Napoli side to Wolfsburg for a Europa League quarter-final, with the former Chelsea boss winning the competition with the Blues in 2013 .
target: Andre Schurrle joined Wolfsburg from Chelsea in January for £24m .
  Rafa Benitez admitted he wanted to sign Germany international .
  Ex Chelsea and Liverpool boss also tracked Luiz Gustavo & Ivan Perisic .
  Napoli face Wolfsburg in Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday .