Luciano Spalletti has disagreed with Pep Guardiola’s statement that Napoli is currently the best team in Europe and suggested that the Spanish manager’s comments were merely an attempt to raise Napoli’s profile before knocking them down later.
Napoli secured their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by winning the second leg of the last-16 match against Eintracht Frankfurt with a score of 3-0. This marked their first time reaching this stage of the competition.
Napoli is the leader of Serie A and has a good position in Europe.
The Italian side is well-positioned to win trophies, as they currently hold an 18-point lead at the top of Serie A. Despite this, Guardiola believes that Napoli is the team to beat.
Spalletti told Amazon prime: “I don’t feel proud, I don’t feel anything. I know this game that everyone does to put pressure on the others.
“Are we putting Napoli in front of Manchester City? If they can spend €900m compared to our €9m, there must be a reason. It’s a game to build us up, so they can knock us down.”
Spalletti has asked fans to savor this moment, but he has also emphasized the importance of not getting too carried away as Napoli aims to create more history in Europe this season.
He added: “It is a great result, [and] we are going to enjoy it along with all our fans. Now it becomes fundamental that we maintain the same attitude.
“If Napoli in the entire history of this club had not reached the quarter-finals before, that means this is a great result.”
Manchester City secured their place in the quarter-finals with an impressive win over RB Leipzig, scoring seven goals in the second leg of their match on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Napoli, along with their Italian rivals Milan and Inter, have also made it to the last-eight. This marks the first time since the 2005-06 season that three Italian teams have reached this stage of the competition.
