Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti explains why he was sent off and suggests Fabian Ruiz and Kalidou Koulibaly will miss the match against Atalanta.
Sassuolo recovered from two goals down, collecting a 2-2 draw against Spalletti’s Napoli at the Mapei Stadium.
Napoli remain the table leader, but with just one point more than Milan, who won 3-0 against Genoa.
Serie A | Sassuolo 2-2 Napoli: Dramatic comeback stuns Partenopei
They had travelled to Reggio Emilia without the injured Victor Osimhen and Zambo Anguissa, but Spalletti had to deal with more injuries during the match.
Lorenzo Insigne was replaced during the break, same as Kalidou Kouliabaly and Fabian Ruiz in the second half.
Napoli were up 2-0 when Ruiz was replaced and 2-1 when the defender was subbed off.
“We are talking about top players who can give serenity to the team during the game,” Spalletti told DAZN.
“I am sorry because I was about to replace Fabian and he asked me to stay on the pitch for two more minutes. In those two minutes, he collected an adductor injury.
“He is having issues, same as Koulibaly. The pitch was not great, so it’s difficult to recover them, but we’ll see because we have good doctors here.
“Insigne had a problem with his calf, I decided to replace him to avoid an injury and he agreed.”
The Azzurri host Atalanta at the Stadio Maradona on Saturday.
“We had to do something more, but Sassuolo are a good team and we accept the result,” Spalletti continued.
“Unfortunately, we lacked the quality to cope with their pressure. They were really aggressive in the end and they managed to draw, so praise to them.”
Why was he sent off?
“Because I protested for the free-kick that led to Sassuolo’s equaliser,” Spalletti explained.
“It was foul on Rrahmani. Instead, he was given a yellow card. That’s why I protested. He shielded the ball and was hit.”
However, the referee saw a different foul by Diego Demme and booked the Napoli midfielder and not Rrahmani, meaning Spalletti protested for the wrong reason.
Nonsense. The Rahmani foul and Demme foul were different incidents.
The foul should have been given for the foul on Rahmani. Instead, play continued until Berardi dived (again) for the free kick and a booking for Demme.
This is simple stuff.
You need to be certain when you say something as opinionated as “ Spalletti protested for the wrong reason”.
That comment is a clear display of bias.
It is pretty evident who is favored here… And it is not Napoli, they will try to stop them at all fronts, it is already happening
Britaliano is right. The foul on Rahmani happened before Demme’s alleged foul. But more importantly, Demme’s tackle wasn’t a foul: Spalletti was correct in protesting it. Demme played the ball. Berardi made theater out of it and the referee fell for it.
It was a poor refereeing display yesterday. I mean, the diving by Lopez was consistently rewarded with free-kicks against Napoli – Sass knew how easy it was, any prospect of contact, they’d take a dive and *peep* a free-kick.
Very frustrating and I’m not surprised the Napoli players were frustrated.
But – the injuries! Rotate your squad, man! A player a game – keep your players fresh or the injuries will come. Manolas, Jesus, Ounas, Ghoulam, Malcuit – a player a game! Look at the injury list now – Oshimen, Insigne, Anguissa, Koulibaly, Fabian; all because they’ve played nearly every game!
Sassuolo is a tough nut. They play hard and fight to the end whistle. Spaletti has done a great job, when healthy they are one of the top european clubs but you wouldn’t know it with the online press they get on FI and other sites.It is suspicious that that this team has quite a few injuries,though some of the players have played many games in a brutal schedule, g-unit is spot on but can they sustain success with their subtitutes? .Competetion is tough in Serie A and Europa and refereeing has been spotty, it seems in Serie A Napoli players are not given the respect of the Northern clubs, a clear bias that still exists on and off the pitch, it seems to have led to some of the injuries particularly to Osimhen and Insigne. In the next few weeks the subs need to step up and remain confident. Atalanta is on a roll and confident and Napoli will need to match there desire to remain top of the table. Buona Fortuna!