Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne warns “the first leg is always crucial” ahead of tomorrow’s game with Nice.
The Partenopei are looking to reach the Champions League group stages, and the visitors will be without Wesley Sneijder and Mario Balotelli, but the Italian international warns they’re still dangerous opponents.
“They still have great players,” Insigne cautioned in the pre-match Press conference.
“It doesn’t matter who plays, but we need to express our own game.
Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne warns “the first leg is always crucial” ahead of tomorrow’s game with Nice.
The Partenopei are looking to reach the Champions League group stages, and the visitors will be without Wesley Sneijder and Mario Balotelli, but the Italian international warns they’re still dangerous opponents.
“They still have great players,” Insigne cautioned in the pre-match Press conference.
“It doesn’t matter who plays, but we need to express our own game.
“We have to be careful, because even if they don’t have big names, they have big talents even without Sneijder and Balotelli. They have a competitive squad.
“We’re thinking about tomorrow, the first leg is always crucial. We can cause them problems if we stay focused for 90 minutes, since we’ve seen if our concentration drops we’re no longer as dangerous.
“We had a great pre-season and we’re all at the disposal of the Coach [Maurizio Sarri]. We’ve played a lot of friendlies and put petrol in the tank, so we’re doing well and we’ll try to put in a great performance.
“Where can we improve? Mentally. You have to do that to face great champions in the Champions League.
“The jump in quality is mental, you need to prepare for games in the same way, but in the Champions League you’ll face players who can decide a match on any play.
“Last year we proved that we’re a great squad, even in difficult moments we never became disunited.
“We went out against Real [Madrid] but we put in a great performance. Now we have to think about these two games, we need to play two great matches because we have to stay in the Champions League for the long haul.”
The last time Napoli had to go through the qualifiers, they lost to Athletic Club and dropped into the Europa League.
“Not participating in the Champions League is always tough, even if we reached a European semi-final. It wasn’t a failure, but it was a big disappointment. We’ll put our heart and soul into this.”
Around 55,000 fans are expected at the San Paolo tomorrow, despite the fact away supporters are banned.
“It’s a pleasure to see it full even on August 16, our fans are always close to us,” Insigne said.
“It’s a matter of pride to play in a Neapolitan shirt, this fanbase deserves important trophies.
“There will be a lot of fans as always, but we’re not thinking about being home or away for the first leg, the important thing is to win.”