Napoli faced defeat on Sunday to Udinese at Bluenergy Stadium. After a well-fought first half, Udinese took the lead through an impressive shot from Jurgen Ekkelenkamp who broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute.
After the game, Antonio Conte had this to say:
“We weren’t able to change the momentum of the game. That means that we struggled when we had the wind against us. However, we didn’t concede anything in the first half, and we wasted some good chances.
“Unfortunately, we’re stretched thin at the moment, but I said to the lads that we have to be good at managing these moments with experience and patience.
“We want to work and fight. We won’t stop because the team is united and tight-knit.
“Of course, we’ve lost seven away games so far and we have to reflect on that, but we know that we’re struggling with various players absent. But I’ll say it again, we can’t lose enthusiasm or faith because it’ll be a long and hard season. We’ll need everyone’s support.”
Giovanni Di Lorenzo analysed the performance like this:
“We’re disappointed with how the match went. We knew we were up against a difficult opponent, but we would’ve liked it to go a different way.
“We’re coming away defeated, but we remained united and tried to draw it right until the end. It didn’t go well but we never give up.
“Now let’s focus on the Supercup which would be our first trophy of the season. We need to be on top form.”
UDINESE: Okoye; Kristensen, Kabasele, Solet; Zanoli (Goglichidze 90), Piotrowski, Karlstrom, Ekkelenkamp (Zarraga 83), Bertola (Ehizibue 84) Zaniolo (Bravo 90), Davis (Buksa 84).
Coach: Runjaic
NAPOLI: Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema (Politano 61), Rrahmani, Buongiorno (Olivera 75), Di Lorenzo, Elmas (Lucca 83), McTominay, Spinazzola (Gutierrez 83), Neres, Lang (Lobotka 61) Hojlund.
Coach: Conte
Referee: Sozza from Seregno
Scorers: Ekkelenkamp 73
Booked: Zaniolo
