Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has been speaking ahead of his teams’ home Champions League clash against Benfica on Wednesday evening.
 

ON THE OPPONENTS – “They like to play out from the back and have strong defenders who are technically very good. It will be a difficult game as they know how to keep possession and it’s difficult to retrieve the ball if you give it away to them. Then up front they have Guedes who I like a lot, he’s made a great impression on me. We will try to win the match but we need to be patient”.

ON PORTUGUESE FOOTBALL – “Italian football is of a higher level overall but they have three really strong sides at the top that are never easy to play against”.

ON HOME ADVANTAGE – “We hope it will be certainly, but Benfica are used to playing in large stadiums with an intimidating atmosphere”.  

ON STRENGTH IN DEPTH – “The reports of our decline towards in the second half of last season are false. We amassed 41 points in the first half and 41 points in the second half. It’s been a difficult start to the campaign and Sunday ends a cycle of seven games in 22 days, which makes it difficult in training as some of the players are not in great condition. There are several things to put in place including rotation”.
 

ON THE SUPPORTERS – “I don’t need to say much, they have always helped us and I’m sure it will be the same tomorrow”.  

ON COMPARISONS WITH KIEV – “With respect to Kiev this will be a much tougher game so we must have the right mentality to face this opponent and try to continue our unbeaten run”.
 

ON THE PHYSICAL STATE OF THE TEAM – “Today’s workout is the most important as yesterday the group was divided. I believe the team is aware of what they need to do to win the game”


S.M