Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret says his teammate should have fouled Rafael Leao, avoiding the Rossoneri’s opener in the first half: ‘We have to raise our heads and keep going.’
The Partenopei secured a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Maradona on Tuesday in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the semis after last week’s 1-0 loss at San Siro.
Meret had saved an Olivier Giroud penalty kick minutes before the Frenchman’s goal inspired by Rafael Leao.
“I think today we played really well in general. We hoped they would defend and knew they’d be dangerous on the counter, it’s a pity we didn’t foul Leao on the chance that led to the goal,” the Italian keeper told SportMediaset.
“It had already happened a couple of other times, we didn’t take the foul and allowed the move to go on too much.
“We kept the initiative, created chances, put lots of balls into the box and gave our all. It’s a pity we scored the goal so late, as it might’ve been different if we had got it earlier,” he continued.
“We gave our all and could not have done much more. We have to raise our heads and keep going. There is disappointment, as we knew that we had what it took to go forward and we tried to the last second. That doesn’t take away the great journey we had and we need to keep putting in these performances to get our objective in the League.”