Luciano Spalletti admits Barcelona deserved a draw against Napoli in the Europa League play-off, but insists ‘that was not a penalty’ after the Juan Jesus fingertip graze was considered handball.
The Partenopei had the perfect start at Camp Nou, taking the lead through a Piotr Zielinski strike at the second time of asking, set up by some great work from Eljif Elmas.
Although Barca inevitably dominated possession in the second half, they rarely tested Alex Meret save for the Ferran Torres penalty, awarded because Juan Jesus grazed an Adama Traore cross with his fingertips.
“We tried to keep it tight in the second half, but we ended up going too deep, and that is a problem when you do it against Barcelona,” confessed Spalletti on Sky Sport Italia.
“That was something we should not have done, although there is no doubting the quality of our opposition. There are these moments during a game where we don’t seem to be able to organise a high press, we pass it backwards and allow the other team to push up.
“These are areas where we really need to improve in future.”
The away goals rule no longer applies in Europe this season, so 1-1 isn’t quite as good a result as it would’ve been last year, but it remains a prestigious one.
“I think in the first half we proved that we could play on level terms with Barcelona. They controlled the initiative after the break, but these are things that can be fixed. We can repeat the first half performance for an entire match.”
Spalletti was not pleased with the VAR call for Barca’s penalty, as nobody had even protested at the time, because Juan Jesus’ fingertips did not seem to change the flight of the Adama Traore cross.
“With all due respect, I will say Barcelona deserved a draw, but that penalty was non-existent,” said the coach.
“It doesn’t change direction. It didn’t touch his fingertips, it touched his little finger. The arm also seemed to be in a fairly natural position.
“Either defenders have to keep their hands behind their backs at all times, which limits movement when running, or I don’t know what they are supposed to do.
“As I said, Barcelona deserved an equaliser, but that was not a penalty.”
Victor Osimhen was in doubt until the very last minute, as Dries Mertens also took part in the warm-up just in case the knee issue flared up again.
“Osimhen gives us these incredible changes of pace. He still needs to learn about the right movements, as in the second half he was caught offside four or five times when he really should’ve been following the line. The midfielders also need to draw out an opposition defender to then put the pass through.
“I do see this performance as an improvement, if we can only carry on certain moves and approaches for the whole game. It was the choice of defending deeper that cost us, because that was a choice. When we attacked Barcelona, we caused them a lot of problems.”
Barcelona fall behind against Napoli… 🤭
A brilliant team move from the visitors, and on his second attempt, Piotr Zieliński slams the ball home! 💥
Work to do for Xavi’s men…#UEL pic.twitter.com/lU2uEydVRH
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 17, 2022
Depressing to see another Italian team defend for 70 minutes.
The fake penalty changed the whole game. Barca has a deep bench. Napoli’s plan was to score early and defend. Win or draw and then take them head on at home. Play to win in Naples.
just look at the line up of napoli only 3 italians. Italian teams use to win the champion league with many italian players in the starting line up.
@walha – when Italian teams used to regularly win in Europe football was very different. Three things changed this during the 90s. The ‘Bosman’ ruling, freedom of movement for all EU based players and Sky TV in the UK. Now there is unprecedented money – especially in the PL. Look at Liverpool, PSG, Man City – no English or French manager or owners in sight and very few ‘native players. That is the way it is now.
walha, thats the reason why 90 percent of players in england are from africa and asian.