Gennaro Gattuso urges Napoli to ‘respect’ Granada and push through their ‘emergency situation’ in the Europa League with a decimated squad.
The first leg of the Europa League Round of 32 kicks off on Thursday at 20.00 GMT.
The Partenopei travelled with only 12 regular outfield players, packing their squad with six youth team members, as the injury list includes Hirving Lozano, Andrea Petagna, Kalidou Koulibaly and Kostas Manolas.
Gennaro Gattuso urges Napoli to ‘respect’ Granada and push through their ‘emergency situation’ in the Europa League with a decimated squad.
The first leg of the Europa League Round of 32 kicks off on Thursday at 20.00 GMT.
The Partenopei travelled with only 12 regular outfield players, packing their squad with six youth team members, as the injury list includes Hirving Lozano, Andrea Petagna, Kalidou Koulibaly and Kostas Manolas.
“It’s an emergency situation and we know that. We are not here on vacation, but we still have what it takes to put in a great performance,” said Gattuso in his press conference.
“Granada are an atypical Spanish side, because they play very vertical football, get straight to the point with pace in attack.
“They might lack experience, but they are tough to play against and have very precise characteristics. I think after the first five or six minutes of the game, the issue of experience evaporates.
“It’s a huge event for them and we know that it’ll be a battle. I’ve seen the way Granada take on the bigger clubs and the more technically-gifted teams. We need to counter them with character, physicality and quality, as Granada deserve respect.”
Among the absentees are David Ospina, Lozano, Diego Demme, Dries Mertens and Elseid Hysaj.
“There aren’t many of us tomorrow, but we have to be competitive anyway,” continued Gattuso.
“We can’t sit here feeling regret at those who aren’t here. We play every three days, we are among the teams in Italy who never had a full seven days to prepare for a match this season, as we progressed in the Coppa Italia and Europa League. We’re not the only ones either, so there’s no point crying about it.
“It’s not just about playing the games. The tempo of training has been completely transformed and we work only on recovery. It’s no coincidence we’ve had more muscular injuries in 2021 than any other Italian club.”