Napoli defender Raul Albiol insists he should have been awarded a penalty against Juventus in the Coppa Italia last week. “I’m not a diver…”
Referee Daniele Doveri disagreed that Albiol was fouled in the Juve box by Miralem Pjanic, who promptly maintained he “never touched” the Spaniard, leaving Napoli 3-1 down in the semi-final tie.
Napoli defender Raul Albiol insists he should have been awarded a penalty against Juventus in the Coppa Italia last week. “I’m not a diver…”
Referee Daniele Doveri disagreed that Albiol was fouled in the Juve box by Miralem Pjanic, who promptly maintained he “never touched” the Spaniard, leaving Napoli 3-1 down in the semi-final tie.
“Real did nothing for 55 minutes, but they have great players, who can score goals at any time and that’s what happened,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport, initially referring to the Partenopei’s Champions League elimination by Real Madrid.
“We did everything to make it 2-0, then from a corner kick conceded by us, they punished us.
“We have to improve on defending set-pieces, even if we’re not the most physical team and many of Madrid’s players are very tall.
“Whether they are marked man-to-man or zonally, they’ve always scored plenty of goals this way.
“We must aim for second place in order to avoid the Champions League playoffs because they’re games in which anything can happen, like against [Athletic] Bilbao.
“We have to beat Crotone and not drop any more points. In football, you can never take anything for granted. What Barcelona did, for example, was unbelievable.
“Consecutive games against Juventus at the start of April? They’ll be very important both games and we want to beat Juventus.
“Penalty in the Coppa Italia first leg? I didn’t fall alone. I can’t have done because I’m not a diver and I’ve always been correct with referees.”