Conte: ‘Honestly impossible for Napoli’ to continue in Champions League
Antonio Conte admits he has mixed feelings about Napoli’s Champions League exit, because it would’ve been ‘honestly impossible’ to continue with more games during the injury crisis.
This evening they host Fiorentina at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 17.00 GMT (18.00 CET).
The Partenopei only have Serie A and the Coppa Italia to focus on now, as the 3-2 defeat to Chelsea here saw them eliminated from the Champions League just 67 hours ago.
Conte sees Napoli ‘on right track’
“I tried to evaluate the game with them, which I thought was very positive,” Conte told DAZN Italia.
“We created many chances and were not suitably rewarded for them, so we have regrets at going out of this competition. At the same time, we must gain belief from seeing we are on the right track at a European level, so can achieve great satisfaction.
“Like every journey, you need a bit of luck, and we are still missing a lot of players. There are things we can learn and develop so that in future we can do better.”
The injury crisis continues to take its toll, ruling out Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, David Neres, Matteo Politano, Amir Rrahmani, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour.
Luca Marianucci officially completed his loan to Torino today, but how long will it take for Romelu Lukaku to be ready for Napoli?
“Lukaku played 19 minutes over two games. Romelu had a really nasty injury, he is speeding up the recovery process, but we need patience and will try to set up some midweek friendlies to get him back to match fitness.
“That was difficult so far, as we had barely any training sessions and a game every three days. Romelu is an important figure both within the team and the locker room, so we hope he and others can get back to fitness.
“It’s fortunate really that the number of matches have been reduced now, otherwise it would’ve been honestly impossible to continue,” concluded Conte.