The result helped Napoli to 54 points from 26 games, level on points with second-placed Inter Milan, who have a game in hand and two points adrift of the leaders AC Milan.
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Napoli head coach Luciano Spalletti felt “Cagliari deserved more” and his side “deserved less” after the 1-1 draw in the Serie A fixture at Sardegna Arena on Monday. Spalletti’s side found themselves 1-0 down after a second half goal from Gaston Pereiro, but they showed great fighting spirit and were eventually rewarded when Victor Osimhen headed home from Mario Rui’s cross on 87 minutes. The result helped Napoli to 54 points from 26 games, level on points with second-placed Inter Milan, who have a game in hand and two points adrift of the leaders AC Milan.
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Speaking to DAZN after the game, Spalletti first reacted to the draw against Cagliari.
“It was a complicated game for us, Cagliari deserved more. In fact, we deserved something less. We never took the game into our own hands, even though we had more possession. They wanted to play this game here and we wanted to play another.
“We have to be happy with the result because it happens to everyone after these Europa League games. We did too little in terms of quality. Don’t say it’s everyone any more, every time it happens in two days we lose 4-5 players. It was good of Osimhen to be available at the last second, he was at risk of not being in the game.
“Fabian had a problem, he was in pain, to play more than 20 minutes was a risk. As we saw in Barcelona, with his head broken with the eight points he wanted to come back and play the last 30 minutes.
“From this point of view I must recognise a good attitude, but they must also recognise that we must do something more. The quality we have, if we don’t use it, then the decisions are made by others and we have to play games not according to our characteristics.”
He spoke about an argument he had with Elif Elmas at the end of the first half.
“I came here because of a situation that had occurred 20 minutes earlier. So it was easy to comment on that situation there. Every now and then I get the odd smile when I’m on the bench, that’s the wrong face!
“But you understand each other with the players. We made mistakes in the build-up to the game, we were hesitant to take the initiative and in tackling. A lot of teams make these moves forward, until they end up man-to-man on the defensive line, and it’s difficult to play the ball.
“It’s a ball on you, a play made on the feet of whoever is coming at you. And there’s always the opponent behind you pressing you. You have to be able to withstand these duels, today we didn’t do much and we never managed the ball.”
The top three teams have failed to secure a win this weekend as both Napoli and Milan shared points while Inter Milan suffered a 2-0 defeat to Sassuolo, making the title race neck-and-neck heading into the final stages of the league.
“In my opinion, it will now be complicated to play on these pitches where there is a fight to avoid relegation. In December several teams were settled, the managers know how to do it.
“Capozucca is one of those who knows how to do it, Walter Sabatini the same. They’ve put players in to complete the team and give it new motivation.”
