Gian Piero Gasperini feels Napoli were rightly denied a penalty against Atalanta but also that the Partenopei were “harder than Manchester City”.
Atalanta capitalised on the decision not to penalise Simon Kjaer for an apparent rugby tackle on Fernando Llorente as Josip Ilicic’s goal straight after earned them a 2-2 draw with Napoli on Wednesday.
Gian Piero Gasperini feels Napoli were rightly denied a penalty against Atalanta but also that the Partenopei were “harder than Manchester City”.
Atalanta capitalised on the decision not to penalise Simon Kjaer for an apparent rugby tackle on Fernando Llorente as Josip Ilicic’s goal straight after earned them a 2-2 draw with Napoli on Wednesday.
“From the pitch, I thought it was a penalty. Then, seeing the images, I saw a big elbow to Kjaer’s face,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“The images are very clear. Whoever was in the VAR booth confirmed what the referee saw, but I’m rightly biased.
“We struggled to control Napoli at first. They immediately created three chances and went ahead soon after.
“Napoli have great pace in their team, but little by little we managed to get the game back in hand, creating good chances and drawing level with them.
“It was tough, harder than City. They were difficult to contain, so credit to the lads.
“We did everything we could, Napoli had more chances but we were still dangerous when we tried.
“Napoli are a great team, I’m even more convinced of that. We’ve started very well, we’ve faced some good teams and we’ve put together a good run.
“I’m very happy with how things are going. It’s clear that this is a balanced and difficult League to play in.
“We don’t want to hide, we hope to continue playing for Europe, although I don’t know [if we’ll qualify again].
“It’s difficult to say today, but of course we’re ambitious.”