Napoli-Milan 2-1, Conte: "We're there, we'll manage the next one well. Future? I'm thinking about the present"

Naples, March 31, 2025 - The Napoli doesn't give up on the Scudetto dream: beats the Milan at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium and remains in the wake of theInter league leaders. The Nerazzurri maintain a three-point advantage over the Azzurri, who won 2-1 against the Devils. The first half was decisive, with the Neapolitans ending the match 2-0, thanks to goals from politan e Lukaku. The one in the second half scored by Jovic was useless. "After a very good first half, practically dominated, we started the second half well but then it was almost inevitable to drop off over the distance, given the situation we found ourselves in" commented Antonio Conte at the end of the match - We had to play 4-4-2 with Breakers alongside Lukaku and McTominay wide left but at the last minute he got hurt so I had to force the situation on Anguissa, recovering from an adductor problem, and Neres, who hadn't played for a long time. I took risks, these are days when you hate being a coach: you prepare the match in a certain way and instead you have to quickly find solutions to problems. A very tiring day, I have a bad headache and in fact I had the doctor give me paracetamol. But I'm happy".

Also because this success fuels the hopes of the tricolor. "They leave us in the wake of Inter and keep the fifth in the standings at a distance because we must not forget that the goal at the beginning of the year was to return to Europe. We are there, after eight months of work it would be crazy not to believe in something extraordinary. We gave an important response because it was not easy to play with Inter who went to +6 and against a great team like Milan. In front of us we have a battleship like the Nerazzurri, now we have to manage the next round well because Bologna is a difficult pitch and then see what happens. For us it will be important to recover all the players, because then we will be able to have our say". And on the future, the Campania coach underlines: "My insertion in Naples was perfect, even beyond expectations. I was welcomed very well straight away, in the retreat I felt indebted because for the first time in my career I had received without yet giving. In part we gave something back to the fans today. We are doing something extraordinary and miraculous. Now we have to be fierce and think about the present, there are eight more games and then we will think about the future".

Here Conceicao

Definitely a different mood than Conte's for Sergio Conceicao. "Since I've been here, three months or so, I've never found excuses for the lack of time to work. Today everything really happened. I woke up at 7.30, Loftus was sick and went to the hospital. After that they told me that Thiaw he couldn't play because he vomited, he had something in his stomach, intestinal. And again a little while later they told me that Lion he felt a bit tired in his thigh. But these are not excuses - continues the Portuguese coach - we could have done much more. The first ball they put forward they scored. We didn't play the first 20 minutes as we had prepared. These things happen, I don't want to cling to bad luck because we could have done more, but really today everything happened. Then in the second half there was a very good reaction from the team, it was needed. In the second half Napoli never got on target, we created so many chances, the right result would have been a draw in my opinion. The team has potential, quality. We always talk about this balance, it's true. If we have to press higher then we have to stay one-on-one at times in our defensive line, you can't stay in numerical superiority if you go forward. They managed to get out of our pressing too easily in the first half. Then we rectified it and had a different attitude. In football - concludes Conceicao - you need technique, quality but also courage, desire, the right attitude to be present. Sometimes we have to take responsibility for man-to-man. The team has quality, I have a lot of confidence. I have a healthy environment in the group." 

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