Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti has admitted that his side were outplayed by AC Milan tonight as they ran out 4-0 winners at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Milan put in undoubtedly their best performance of the season right when they needed it most as they beat the runaway league leaders to go above Inter and into third place with the top four battle really heating up.
The first half showing was what set the tone as Rafael Leao opened the scoring with a delightful chip after some excellent work from Brahim Diaz, and the Spaniard turned from provider to scorer.
Two more goals came in the second half as Leao got his second of the night and then Alexis Saelemaekers got a goal off the bench after a Messi-esque dribble.
Spalletti spoke to DAZN after the game to reflect on what was one of the few nights this season that hasn’t gone their way, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
How can this result be explained?
“Milan put in a great performance. They started strong, they took advantage of all the situations we gave them. They were very good at using the spaces we gave them. We performed below our level, the great willingness of the boys in some cases served to stretch even further to go and resume the game. We have left spaces that they have exploited well.”
Why did you struggle at the start of the game?
“We had trouble in getting the ball to circulate as we know, we forced the game right away. We missed too many balls for our level.”
Did you lose the midfield battle?
“We often left a space between the lines where they are good, they have all these players who are half-playing midfielders… quality midfielders… they found the man in the middle, we went to playing man against man we did not get along well with the positions.”
Did the international break affect things?
“There’s a point that it influenced it. In these teams there are many players who give everything for the national team, then it depends on the games, the trips and it may be that they come back a little tired. But it also happened to Milan.
“So this had a bit of an influence, it had a bit of an influence that Milan put in a great performance and we weren’t at our usual level. Maybe we were a little unlucky… Oliveira came back with a problem, Osimhen came back with a problem… We were a little unlucky for this round with the national teams.”
What changes in view of the Champions League matches?
“It changes that now there will be some people saying we haven’t benefitted from the draw, it seemed that we had a team that was easy to get past.
“They’ve been through a bit of a particular moment, but we know that the Champions League beacon always puts everything back in place. After this performance here I hope there are others who think like me.”
Just as the players began making their way out of the tunnel for the second half, Luciano Spalletti could be seen in heated conversation with Paolo Maldini and Leao, having seemingly been angered by the Portuguese winger’s celebration after the opening goal. He cleared up what it was all about.
What happened in the tunnel with Maldini?
“Nothing happened with Paolo on my part, in the sense that I was returning to the dressing room and asking about Lobotka’s yellow card and the referee was explaining it to me. He passed by waving his arms as if to say ‘you always complain’.
“At the beginning of the match everyone was composed… but if there is anyone who protested, if anything it happened to them, it was Pioli who was warned by the referee. He never warned back.
“I didn’t like the fact that he was talking over my discussions with the referee. I told him and he naturally reacted a little. For my part everything is in order, indeed I was sorry for him because then we talk about Paolo Maldini … They are unpleasant things.”
Ok cue ball, we all saw the video…
“because then we talk about Paolo Maldini”…after this swing at Maldini,he should celebrate this title like crazy cause he won’t win anything else in his life and he knows that…thats just the world we live in…
Such a sore loser
Nobody will take out credit of destruction of Napoli by Milan. High Five for Milan.
Napoli Coach was a bad loser.