Luciano Spalletti gave his thoughts on the decision to move Napoli’s clash with Salernitana, their possible Scudetto victory this weekend and the mentality of his squad.
The Partenopei can mathematically secure their first Scudetto victory in over three decades this weekend, should they beat Salernitana and Lazio drop points to Inter.
Napoli’s match with Salernitana was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday April 29, but was postponed by a day for ‘security reasons’, being moved to after the Biancocelesti face the Nerazzurri, allowing an immediate celebration should things go to plan.
Speaking in a press conference, Spalletti first discussed how things have changed for Napoli since their win over Juventus.
“We’ve known for a long time what our direction is, we don’t have to do reversals or different things, we continue on our path so far, then there are things that are above us that we can’t control.
“It’s okay to be controlled by other things and we adapt, but we will be ready to play our game, we will have been ready today anyway, with all our strengths, even those we don’t have. Let’s just play.”
He was asked about his thoughts in the hours leading up to Napoli’s possible Scudetto victory.
“We are facing an extreme challenge, as in the last ones, which if you take them home, they give you more strength.
“We’ve wanted to live these nights here for a long time and we have to live them in the same way as always, being clear about what we have to do on the pitch and in the preparation to get there.”
The Napoli coach was also asked about the decision to postpone the match and what that means for Salernitana and Lazio.
“We have not entrusted our Scudetto to the judge or to fate, but to our idea of football, to make happy those who wait for us with bated breath for hours at an airport or in the street just to see an Azzurri coach pass by.
“We didn’t do anything as a team, on the contrary, we had to change our weekly work too, so we have to accept this and for what we see and hear they wanted to give us security. They also told me to say something… if this happens, which we don’t know if it’ll happen, so afterwards I’ll have to make a security speech in anticipation… and nothing certain.
“The team, on the other hand, must not change anything and for the desire that I saw this morning I am convinced that we will play our game, I don’t know if it will be enough because we will face a strong opponent, they haven’t lost in eight games, I know Sousa very well, I appreciate him, we even went on a trip together and he is someone who works on the pitch.
“To see them from the outside they look like a club projected into the future, the president is doing a great job, they’re a city that have enthusiasm and great love for this sport so it will be a very difficult match.
“What happened has motivated the opponents more, but we will do what we had to do today.”
Spalletti spoke about recent comments made by Maurizio Sarri and Massimiliano Allegri – the former spoke about delaying Napoli’s celebrations, whilst the latter downplayed their imminent success.
“I don’t know, I don’t have to answer to either Sarri or Allegri, we have built our season properly. We think of the fans, of the satisfaction of seeing a group of serious players play, who put their all into it, they have been important for us in this journey to reach this exciting season finale.”
Finally, Spalletti reflected on the win over Juventus.
“I believe that the team came out from the start, for me but also for the numbers, even in the first half the search was the same, to go and catch them.
“Knowing of the entries of Di Maria and Chiesa, we recommended ourselves for those counter attacks when you play an attacking game, as we were charged also with Milan.
“Strong counters mean that if you don’t get it back, you’re left with gaps and in the open pitch you back-pedal all the way and see who gets there first, if you don’t anticipate them first and absorb them with the line.
“We did it well, we won a very important game, and it has happened many times, these guys have statistics that are hard to take home. Then if you don’t recover and there is someone like Leao over there, or like Chiesa and Di Maria…
“Then some say there you mustn’t do that, but the other seven times that situation has given you an advantage, don’t you see?”