Luciano Spalletti was in a mood to hit back at Napoli critics after the stoppage-time win over Lazio put them into top spot. ‘Everyone keeps moaning this team doesn’t have character, it’s soft, I want to hear them say that now.’
It is an extraordinary Scudetto race, as Napoli and Milan are now level at the top of the table, with the Partenopei ahead on goal difference.
And the fixture next Sunday evening will be Napoli vs. Milan at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
It was a dramatic clash at the Olimpico tonight, as Pedro’s volley had cancelled out the Lorenzo Insigne opener, but deep into stoppages Fabian Ruiz struck from the D to seal the 2-1 result.
“The team played good football in the second half, and it’s true that Pedro’s wondergoal got Lazio on level terms, but we had numerous chances before that, the goal that was disallowed and the one that was cleared off the line,” Spalletti told DAZN.
Although he celebrated wildly at the Olimpico, the coach seemed irritated after the victory and indeed hit out at critics.
“I think overall the team deserved the victory. I want to underline that everyone keeps moaning that this team doesn’t have character, it’s soft, it’s sluggish, I want to hear them say that now.
“This team definitely has character. People said we couldn’t draw with Cagliari, but they went to beat Torino away from home today.
Serie A | Lazio 1-2 Napoli: Insigne and Fabian Ruiz catch Milan at the death
“We lost to Barcelona after getting a result at Camp Nou, it was my fault because I told them to take that approach.
“I see an ugly atmosphere around this team, people trying to say we lack character. I want to see them say that now.
“There are many games, but this team has potential, it has character and showed it tonight. This is not the same Lazio that we beat earlier this season, because they play good football, they work together to press and attack you, so we were wide awake.
“People go take Fabian off, take him off, take him off: I leave him on and he scores! This is a team challenging for a high level of the table, that has generally played good football. I don’t know what people try to drag us into, perhaps because they are afraid to face opponents like this with open football, but my players are not afraid.
“We got knocked down, we got straight back on our feet again and poured forward to find the winner. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to say this was a deserved victory.”
Spalletti was asked if there are clubs and indeed cities where it is more difficult to find success, after he worked at Roma, Inter and Napoli.
“It depends. We have a good team, but this idea that if we don’t win the Scudetto then we’ve failed is unfair. There is a middle ground. The team is doing what it needs to do.
“We are ahead of teams that are on our level, while others have even more resources than we do. We had players at the Africa Cup of Nations, we had players who were injured, you could see we were struggling and couldn’t really rotate or choose from one game to the next.”
Oh wow, what a beauty from Fabian Ruiz 🤩😯
Napoli take the lead back in the 94th minute and become the new Serie A leaders! pic.twitter.com/lkAimfk6rY
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 27, 2022
Finally, Spaletti made the subs on time. How hard can it be…
Napoli have no character now!
Incredible how its possible to be such loser, just couple of days shamefully was crushed from europa league like donkey, today he feels like hero super fantastic coach…
There is totaly zero character what I saw on thursday, zero character, just calling his team brave, its total losers mentality… And yesterday only luck makes him something special 🙂
@FORZA Juve, losers are the ones who spent hundreds of millions on players and then will probably miss out on CL