Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti has assured that the team will give their all and deliver a performance worthy of the Champions League ahead of Wednesday’s game against Liverpool.
Napoli returns to the UEFA Champions League after they failed to make it last season and Spalletti is optimistic his team is set for the game.
Spalletti shared his thoughts at Napoli’s pre-match press conference as well as the prospect of Victor Osimhen’s availability.
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“I’m so excited to be leading Napoli in the Champions League.
“It’s like the Luna Park of football, featuring players who are fired up and who dazzle onlookers.
“Players dream of playing in this competition all their lives.
“The standard is high righties can be won or lost in a single passage of play.
“You’ve got to be so switched on against teams such as Liverpool.
“You can prepare as thoroughly as possible but when you’re up against real champions you know that they’re capable of coming up with something out of the blue.
“That being said we’ve got some top-drawer players and I’m convinced that the lads will play a blinder tomorrow, carrying on from where they left off against Lazio.
“I’ll say it again, this group of players can garner even more affection from the Maradona this campaign.”
Responding to Osimhen’s ability to feature in the game Spalletti said;
“He followed a custom schedule today and it was positive.
“If he does well in training tomorrow then he could take part.”
Asked if he would settle for a draw in the game he said;
“That wouldn’t be faithful neither to my approach nor to our playing style.
“We always go out to try and win, as was the case at the Olimpico against a top team.
“It’s not right to make calculations.
“We’ll go out and try and play the Napoli way, aiming to win.
“We’ll see what we’re capable of achieving.”
On the kind of game, he was expecting from his opponents he responded;
“Liverpool is a dynamic team, alternating between attacking from the left and free right.
“They try and get in behind you and are relentless with their pressing.
“They don’t play an Italian style of ball, that’s for sure.
“Besides from the tactical side of things they’ve got amazing individuals who are great in one-on-one situations.
“We’ll need to have a lot of energy and use our heads so that they don’t tire us out and so that we can play our game.
“We’ll need to accept that at points they’ll be on top of us, while always recognizing that we’ll be capable of doing them damage.
“It’s not like we need to play eye-catching football, we’ve just got to be effective and decisive.
“We don’t take to the pitch looking for plaudits, we just want to play to a Champions League standard and pick up points.”