Luciano Spalletti praised the Napoli players for ‘battling’ with Rangers in Glasgow and promised they will have the same attitude with Milan. ‘This is our path, we are sure of what we are doing.’
The Partenopei are now three points clear at the top of their group with a 100 per cent record, as after crushing Liverpool 4-1, they earned a 3-0 victory at Ibrox.
It was tricky, as the deadlock was only broken after James Sands was sent off and Alan McGregor saved Piotr Zielinski’s penalty – twice – with a Matteo Politano spot-kick, Giacomo Raspadori and Tanguy Ndombele.
“After this game we’ve got to keep our brains switched on and not get ahead of ourselves, even if it is a very important result,” Spalletti told Mediaset Infinity and Sky Sport Italia.
“Rangers hadn’t been in the Champions League for 12 years, so we knew they’d have this ferocious start to the match in a legendary stadium, but we held out, we played, we never lost sight of our objective and where we wanted to take this game.
“We did not use our quality enough in the final third during the first half, but then did it better after the break. What we did do was fight for every ball and we needed that here.”
Liverpool and Ajax are now on three points, with Napoli out in front on six.
“As we brought home the victory against Liverpool, failing to get three points this evening would’ve been like handing back that advantage we earned. It was difficult, but the team never had doubts on the attitude to take.
“I am very happy with my lads, it is a signal for ourselves, because we need confirmation to make us believe in our capabilities. Those who came off the bench did really well, Ndombele showed great physical strength in those battles, he is tough to push off the ball.”
Napoli will go head-to-head with joint Serie A leaders Milan on Sunday in a Scudetto showdown.
“Milan are a great team, we now need to recover and then go there to play our game, just as we did tonight. This is our path, we are sure of what we are doing and must continue like that.”
Spalletti was also eager to calm the criticism as well as enthusiasm when comparisons are made to last season, in both Serie A and Europe.
“We lost a few games, but we had a great season. Don’t act like our campaign was a failure. Did Carlo Ancelotti win the title two years earlier, with practically the same squad?”