Maurizio Sarri assures Napoli “will do everything” to qualify for the Champions League Last 16 because “we feel we deserve it”.
The Partenopei will qualify with a draw at Benfica tomorrow, but will crash out if they lose and Besiktas avoid defeat against Dynamo Kiev.
“We’re facing a difficult team, very dangerous in attack,” Sarri warned in his pre-match Press conference.
“We try to impose our game, but so do they and one of the two will succeed while the other will have to adapt.
Maurizio Sarri assures Napoli “will do everything” to qualify for the Champions League Last 16 because “we feel we deserve it”.
The Partenopei will qualify with a draw at Benfica tomorrow, but will crash out if they lose and Besiktas avoid defeat against Dynamo Kiev.
“We’re facing a difficult team, very dangerous in attack,” Sarri warned in his pre-match Press conference.
“We try to impose our game, but so do they and one of the two will succeed while the other will have to adapt.
“Playing against a strong team will be a good experience, and a difficult one. Beyond the atmosphere and the stadium, we want to qualify and we’ll do everything to do it because we feel we deserve it.
“If we think about a draw, then we could ruin the game. In addition, if we’re thinking about the other game then it’ll be impossible to play a real match.
“We’re not used to going for a draw.
“It’s clear that the game could swing violently in the final phase. The first 60 or 70 minutes will be played with poise and technique, then at the end it’s inevitable that one of us will have to take huge risks and be less focused on tactical aspects.”
Vincent Aboubakar’s winner for Besiktas in the 3-2 win at San Paolo was offside, is there lingering bitterness over that?
“We’ve made mistakes, but we’re in this situation because we had an offside goal given against us. We’re not thinking about that, although on a dead ball it was an easy call.
“In other games we’ve played on a fairly good level, but with Besiktas we gave too much away, even if the result could have been different.
“It’s pointless to think about an offside though, what counts is tomorrow’s game.”
The Coach was also asked whether Manolo Gabbiadini would start up-front tomorrow, or if Dries Mertens would be deployed as a false-nine.
“I don’t know at this point, we’ll see,” Sarri shrugged.
“It seems to me that this is a game where we’ll need a player who can change things from the bench.
“So there will definitely be a strong player on the bench, because he could be decisive.”