Champions League: Spalletti blames Napoli defeat on injustices and self-destruct

Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti congratulated Milan on their Champions League semi-final spot, but was extremely critical of the referee. ‘There were a few errors and a few injustices. You cannot fail to see that penalty.’

The Partenopei knew they had it all to do after losing the first leg 1-0 at San Siro to an Ismael Bennacer goal.

They were buoyed by Alex Meret’s save on the Olivier Giroud penalty, but the France international got his goal eventually by tapping in the Rafael Leao run from his own half.

Kvicha Kvaratskhelia had the best opportunity to get the tie back open, only for his penalty to be saved by Mike Maignan, so when Victor Osimhen’s diving header hit the back of the net in stoppages, it was too late.

“First of all, we congratulate Milan on their qualification. They played two games in which they made the most of their chances, which is the sign of a mature team that knows when to press the accelerator and when to defend in numbers,” Spalletti told Mediaset.

“I also want to compliment my players, as our Champions League campaign was played at a very high level. We paid for a few naïve moments, we paid for a lack of experience in dealing with moments of the match.

“Some of our players who came back from international duty were struggling, especially Osimhen who was out for 20 days after that injury. Then a few errors and a few injustices.”

On top of that, Matteo Politano and Mario Rui both went off injured in the first half, the Italian spotted at the final whistle on crutches after spraining his knee.

It was the third game in 16 days against Milan, losing 4-0 here in Serie A on April 2, 1-0 away in the first leg of the quarter-final, then this 1-1 draw. Have these meetings broken something in the Napoli juggernaut of a season?

“No, because we took the initiative both in Milan and here. We were in fantastic shape before the break for international duty, then when we returned there were so many players out of action for that game with Milan. Perhaps the result in Turin made us believe the league was a formality, so we weren’t as focused in that 4-0 result. However, the two Champions League games were totally different.

“It’s true they missed a penalty, but it was also an avoidable incident. We conceded an avoidable goal, as we were balanced and controlling the ball when allowing them to overturn the whole situation. They scored their only real move into our box and we were unable to do the same.”

At least Napoli retained their unbeaten Champions League home record, now stretching to 13 games.

Spalletti had been furious about the refereeing in the first leg, which saw Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa sent off and Kim Min-jae booked, so both were suspended this evening.

UEFA assigned World Cup Final referee Szymon Marciniak for this second leg, but the coach was still livid with the officiating, especially the Leao sliding tackle on Hirving Lozano.

“Everyone agreed, except those wearing the Milan jersey, that the referee made mistakes in the first leg. There was a penalty today, clear as day, on Lozano where you see from the replays that the ankle moves and he never gets the ball. It’s the clearest penalty, you cannot fail to see that. It is not contact, that is a foul, otherwise his ankle would turn like that. It risks a sprain of the ankle. You cannot fail to see that.

“But then people say we complain… The penalty we gave away was naïve, this was also a clear penalty.”

Kvaratskhelia, Chucky Lozano and Matteo Politano were too predictable this evening, cutting inside and trying a curler rather than the cross for Osimhen.

“We had 16 corners, so we put the crosses in, we just didn’t get on the end of them properly. This thing of cutting inside to the stronger foot does give us opportunities at the back post, we scored many goals like that this season, as the full-back has to cut in.

“Kvaratskhelia found himself 20 times in one against one situations and Calabria did really well. He created chances, firing over the bar and forcing the situation, but that’s how it went.”