Genk Coach Felice Mazzù believes their performance against Napoli “must set the template for what we need to do in future,” but thinks Fabian Ruiz should've seen red.
The game ended 0-0, despite the visitors hitting the woodwork three times and only a goal-line clearance denying Kalidou Koulibaly.
However, it was still a vast improvement over their opening 6-2 defeat at RB Salzburg.
Genk Coach Felice Mazzù believes their performance against Napoli “must set the template for what we need to do in future,” but thinks Fabian Ruiz should've seen red.
The game ended 0-0, despite the visitors hitting the woodwork three times and only a goal-line clearance denying Kalidou Koulibaly.
However, it was still a vast improvement over their opening 6-2 defeat at RB Salzburg.
“I am very happy, as the situation wasn’t great beforehand, but my lads showed a strong mentality and that bodes well for the future,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
“We didn’t play as a team against Salzburg, but that was a wake-up call and it made us realise we had to work as a collective. I am not thinking about qualification, but rather at this match as a template for what we need to do in future.
“I wanted to win this game, but it was a good result against a very strong Napoli side. Ianis Hagi is getting better week by week, he gave us a lot of creativity and I think we’ll soon have an excellent Number 10 in our ranks.”
Mazzù, whose parents emigrated to Belgium from Italy, was critical of the referee after Fabian Ruiz was booked for a cynical foul when stopping Ito’s counter-attack in the centre-circle.
“I think it’s fundamental that a referee understand football. It’s true that the foul was practically in midfield, but without that foul, we’d have been in a two-on-one situation and a huge chance to score. In my view, that was a professional foul and deserving of a red card.
“If that is just a yellow card, then defending is too easy.”