Rafa Benitez reveals Napoli had worked on corners against Athletic Bilbao, “but we made important mistakes anyway.”
Marek Hamsik had given them the lead at the San Mames, but dreadful defending allowed Athletic to win 3-1 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate.
“In an objective analysis, Athletic deserved to score in the first half and did not,” Benitez told Sport Mediaset.
Rafa Benitez reveals Napoli had worked on corners against Athletic Bilbao, “but we made important mistakes anyway.”
Marek Hamsik had given them the lead at the San Mames, but dreadful defending allowed Athletic to win 3-1 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate.
“In an objective analysis, Athletic deserved to score in the first half and did not,” Benitez told Sport Mediaset.
“We took the lead, but in a few minutes we made some important mistakes and lost control of the game. We made mistakes on all three goals.
“Those goals allowed Athletic to gain confidence and we lost ours. Do I blame anyone? No, these are mistakes that happen.
“These can happen – they are not normal, but they happened anyway. We had worked over the week on specifics like corners, but we still made mistakes and clearly still have work to do.
“Have our plans changed? No. We said from the start Athletic were a tough team. We knew it could end up like this, we are all disappointed, but we have to look forward.”
Gokhan Inler did not get to play a single minute over the two legs of this play-off.
“We chose Jorginho and Gargano in the first leg due to fitness work and a week later that was still the case. It was a physical issue, as they were in better shape.”
It is Athletic’s first foray into the Champions League for 16 years, but also the fourth time in five seasons that an Italian team has gone out in the preliminary round.
This exit is reported to have cost Napoli between €20m and €25m in revenue.
Benitez was asked whether this elimination would prompt Gonzalo Higuain to ask for a transfer or more reinforcements, as he was visibly furious after the first leg.
“I think at this stage we need to concentrate on the game with Genoa on Sunday. We are all disappointed, but cannot think about whether one player is more or less unhappy than the others.”