Antonio Conte chose to make a point about Napoli’s perceived objective for the season after their win over AC Milan on Monday night.
Given that Napoli won the Scudetto last season and strengthened again in the summer, many had them down as the favourites to defend their league title, especially given the big changes at rivals like Inter, Milan and Juventus.
However, Conte has always been one to play games with the media, and has repeatedly suggested that his team shouldn’t have the expectation of winning Serie A again. After last night’s game – in which Matteo Politano scored the only goal – he chose to re-iterate this message.
Speaking to DAZN, Conte – who is supposedly in the running for the Italian national team job – even provided a comparison with Milan and the way the media portray the target for Massimiliano Allegri’s men. His words were relayed by MilanNews.
How do you feel after a win like that?
“It leaves us with a lot of enthusiasm and confidence, because what we mustn’t forget is that if we’re up there in second place, we have to thank the players who filled in for this year’s many absences. I think this team has achieved extraordinary things in times of major absences.
“Another team would have floundered, but we stayed there. Everyone is making themselves available, I’m very happy for Matteo who scored the second goal. Now there are seven games to go, we’ve taken an important step towards our objective, which is the Champions League.
“If that’s Milan’s objective, I don’t understand why it can’t be our objective. We won a Supercoppa, now we have to stay there. Inter are deserving, they’re doing something impressive. They deserve to be first, and we’re there, and we have to focus on ourselves.”
How much do you believe in the Scudetto?
“In a moment of joy, I want to thank these guys who responded to what could have been a disastrous moment. Instead, they responded brilliantly. We’ve all recovered somewhat, we’re waiting for Rrahmani, Neres is on the road to recovery, and the doctor greeted me this morning with this good news.
“We had prepared the match with him, and Giovane played it well. We have to be realistic: we must never make mistakes and hope they make more mistakes up front. Looking at what Inter have done, I think it’s going to be very difficult; they deserve what they’re doing.
“We have to have the desire to keep our foot on the accelerator and defend the Scudetto. We won a Supercoppa, we’re second, and we have to continue like this without getting carried away with hype, knowing that the Champions League is a goal we can’t afford to miss.”
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