Atalanta claim victory at the Maradona
Atalanta beat Napoli 3-0 at the Stadio Maradona, with Ademola Lookman getting a brace in the first half and Mateo Retegui rounding off the scoring late on.
This is what our coach Antonio Conte had to say:
"You always have to evaluate the opponent you’re up against. Atalanta played great today so I’ve got no complaints from what my players did. I don’t think that today’s defeat was down to a lack of determination or care from us.
"Sometimes you can overcome the obstacle in your way, sometimes you can't. We need to have Atalanta’s level of patience to build something like they’ve done in recent years.
"When you face a team that’s better than you, you have to compliment them and leave it at that. You have to hold up your hands and congratulate them in a sportsmanlike manner. Of course we could’ve done better at certain things - we need to up our game both in defence and attack. However overall, like I said, I’ve got no complaints from what my players did. Losing is part of the process and this won’t knock us back.
"I never say things without due consideration and I always tell the truth, whether you like it or not. We’re here to work hard and to try to rebuild a project - this is my task. I’m telling you that we’ll follow the path we’ve set ourselves, without going over the top, and with diligent planning. We’re trying to lay the foundations for this and to get to the top you need calm, patience and balance. We may face difficulties but we shouldn’t let this discourage us. We’re working hard to secure a brighter future.”
Matteo Politano also shared his thoughts:
"We gave it a go but unfortunately we were unable to get a positive result. We knew it would be a difficult and physical match – we fought hard but they made the most of their opportunities.
"Nothing changes from our mental point of view. We’re grounded, we take things game by game and we know we always have to work hard. Inter is up next and we’ll try to give our all.
“It’s a long season and today Atalanta showed that they’re better than us – they deserve credit. We’ll push on without letting this hit our morale, and bearing in mind both what we’ve done so far and what we can go on to do.”
Napoli 0-3 Atalanta (HT 0-2)
Scorers: Lookman, 10, Lookman 31, Retegui 90+3
NAPOLI: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Olivera (Spinazzola 76), Anguissa, Gilmour (Raspadori 62), McTominay, Politano (Ngonge 62), Kvaratskhelia (Neres 71), Lukaku (Simeone 76). Coach: Conte
ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac (Kossounou 71) Zappacosta (Bellanova 82), De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Pasalic (Brescianini 82) De Ketelaere (Retegui 76), Lookman (Samardzic 76). Coach: Gasperini
Referee: Doveri
