Matteo Politano admits Napoli ‘absolutely have to win’ games like the 2-2 draw with Genoa if they want to retain the Scudetto for more than one season.

The striker came off the bench to score a fantastic volley into the near top corner, completing the comeback from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Marassi.

“I am happy with the goal, but not the result,” Politano told DAZN.

“We should’ve taken home the victory. After an ugly first half and start to the second, there was a good reaction. If we want to keep the Scudetto symbol on our jerseys, then we absolutely have to win these games.”

Politano was a substitute, as he had pulled out of international duty with Italy last week due to a slight injury.

“There are many leaders here, we saw already last season that this is a strong group. We must work hard to achieve more remarkable results this year and continue to improve.”

Napoli won their first Serie A title in over 30 years, but lost big players like Kim Min-jae, coach Luciano Spalletti and director of sport Cristiano Giuntoli.

It is also fair to say that they are treated differently by their opponents in Serie A and in Europe.

“Everyone wants to give their best against us, but we too must give our best to honour every match. We want to repeat last season’s Champions League campaign and keep doing even better.”

The Partenopei have started the campaign with just seven points from the opening four rounds, managing one from two games against Lazio and Genoa.

They will open their Champions League group phase next week with a trip to SC Braga.

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