Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo admits there is now ‘a very big gap’ from leaders Inter, but the next match against Juventus ‘will be a head-to-head’ for position.
The reigning Champions of Italy were beaten 3-0 on home turf this evening and it felt like a passing on of the baton to the favourites for the next Scudetto.
“There is a very big gap now, there’s no point talking about the Scudetto,” Di Lorenzo told DAZN.
“We have to take it one game at a time and see where we are. It will be a head-to-head with Juve, we know what this fixture means to our fans and will prepare it in the best possible way.
“There is a gap, but anything can happen in football and we did not deserve to lose the last two games.”
Juventus are second, only two points behind Inter, while Napoli have now been caught by Roma in joint fourth.
That clash will be at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin on Friday December 8.
This was the third match under new coach Walter Mazzarri, who had overseen a 2-1 win away to Atalanta and 4-2 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
“Obviously we cannot be happy with the result, even if we put in a good performance. At least we are starting to play good football again and created plenty of chances, we just didn’t convert them and that is disappointing.”
Di Lorenzo was asked how Mazzarri had approached the squad after taking over from sacked Rudi Garcia a couple of weeks ago.
“He tried to bring everyone back together, because it was a difficult situation and we were not getting results. He brought back some confidence, because this is a strong squad, even if we don’t have much time to work in training. The coach already knows the club and the atmosphere in Naples, so that helps.”
Napoli are now 11 points adrift of the leaders after managing only seven wins, three draws and four defeats.