Aftermath of Napoli's loss to Milan in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, coach Luciano Spalletti was critical of some of the referee's key decisions while also stylishly blaming some of his player's struggle Osimhen included for his team's ouster, reports Nigeriasoccernet.com.
Napoli lost out to their Italian counterpart 2-1 on aggregate having played a 1-1 draw last night at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
‘There were a few errors and a few injustices. You cannot fail to see that penalty,’ Spalletti said post match.
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.
Spalletti who believed referee's decisions in both leg contributed to their loss has this to say:
“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.”
Napoli will now turn their attention to the league which is almost a wrap for them. They take on the Old Ladies, Juventus next.
By Oluwayemi Omolagba