Stefano Pioli felt Fiorentina’s performance was “pretty close to perfect,” but confessed the early Napoli red card made a big difference.
Giovanni Simeone’s hat-trick sealed the 3-0 victory, although Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off after just eight minutes.
“Clearly, having an extra man after eight minutes was a huge advantage. We had the right ideas even with 11 against 11, but should’ve scored more goals earlier on.
Stefano Pioli felt Fiorentina’s performance was “pretty close to perfect,” but confessed the early Napoli red card made a big difference.
Giovanni Simeone’s hat-trick sealed the 3-0 victory, although Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off after just eight minutes.
“Clearly, having an extra man after eight minutes was a huge advantage. We had the right ideas even with 11 against 11, but should’ve scored more goals earlier on.
“We knew Napoli could be dangerous, so we tried to pass the ball and never stopped pressing,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect performance, but I think we came pretty close. Obviously, 11 against 11 was a different situation.
“Last week we played with a man down and that caused us a lot of problems against Sassuolo, but we trained well and the team was ready to make the most of what we tried, but also what the opposition allowed.
“We took a while to get going this season, as we had so many new, young and foreign players, it took some time for us to get to know each other.
“I am glad that we always believed in this group and it’ll be difficult for Europe, but we have to try and hope for the final weeks.
“If we’d been told last summer that we’d be in this position, with Milan in the final round, we’d have been overjoyed. It had been quite a few years since Napoli lost to Fiorentina here, so it can give us a real boost going forward.”