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Napoli, after the Coppa Italia there's Juventus: Antonio Conte’s promise

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Napoli in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia, after the anything but a foregone conclusion match with Cagliari, which surrendered only on penalties. For the Azzurri, however, now lies the delicate challenge to Juventus in the next round of Serie A: a clash that is never trivial for Antonio Conte. The coach of the Italian champions wanted to emphasize the importance of his team&#8217s success, the proof of character they showed on a not easy night. But, in addition to that, he wanted to send a clear message to the Bianconeri: a team whose recent history he has powerfully contributed to writing both as a player and a coach.

Marco Enzo VenturiniNapoli-Olympiacos anything but friendly, Antonio Conte explodes on the bench: photos

Definitely heated tempers during the'friendly between Napoli and Olympiacos
At 35', on the score of 1-0 for Napoli, a harsh intervention by El Kaabi on Rrahmani did not go down well with Antonio Conte

The'Napoli coach entered the field and did not send them to the match director, demanding a severe measure
At the same time, the technician of the'Olympiacos, Mendilibar
A huddle of players formed in seconds around the two technicians

It took a while' of time before bringing the situation back to calm
In the end came, albeit with difficulty, the clarification between the two technicians
No action instead by the'referee, despite the vibrant protests
The'episode is among others happened a couple of minutes after Lukaku's exit from the field due to injury
In the end Napoli won the match, with the score of 2-1
On target for the Parthenopeans Politano and Lucca. On the field also McTominay and De Bruyne
The partenopei concluded the program of pre-season competitions: on August 23 the'league debut with Sassuolo

“The one against Juventus is a match, it puts 3 points up for grabs like all of them – Conte told ‘SportMediaset’ -. Having said that, we are aware that we will face a great team. I then know their history perfectly, so there will be a very deep respect. Although, clearly, we will try to collect the 3 points at stake”. To do so, it will be essential to recover the energy, including mental energy spent in the Coppa Italia against Cagliari. “It was really long, but very good those who went to the penalty spot. You need great personality, and by going to the far post they were able to show their skill and coolness” explained the Napoli coach.

Conte then dwelt more specifically on the match and on some of his Napoli individuals who carved out a starring role for themselves against Cagliari. “We got the goal in a fortuitous way, after a rebound with McTominay – he pointed out -. However, everyone did well, including those who hadn’t played for a long time or promising guys like Vergara and Ambrosino. Important then to see Spinazzola on the field for 90 minutes. And very good Milinkovic-Savic, who also shot a penalty because we know his qualities. We know we have to make a virtue of necessity until January, everything that comes will be a source of enthusiasm. But we also know that we always need high intensity, because when we lower our pace we become predictable”.

Napoli advancing to the Italian Cup quarterfinals, however, brings with it a statistic that Conte himself wanted to emphasize. “We haven”t reached this point in five years. So we take the good”, his words.

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