Ahead of the Partenopei’s game with Roma on Saturday afternoon, Napoli coach Rafael Benitez insists his team will focus solely on the game.
Ill-feeling surrounds the contest as a result of the shooting of Napoli fan Ciro Esposito before the last season’s Coppa Italia Final at Roma’s Stadio Olimpico.
The former Liverpool coach insisted in his press conference that while his side will honour Esposito, their full attention will be on the match.
“We need to talk about football,” he admitted, “we need to honour Ciro and what happened, but we have to be convinced that at the end we will talk about a spectacle, about a goal or an error.”
Benitez went on to talk up his side’s chances, not just on Saturday, but through the season as a whole.
“The last matchday proved that everyone makes mistakes,” the Spaniard conceded, “as Juventus lost to Genoa. We have always done well in big games; in the Inter game we can point to something important and in the second half we played well but the Championship is long.
“The growth of the team is there,” he continued, “and it is able to react. There is trust and this mentality is growing game by game. I notice AC Milan adopted our system and nobody talks about their defence, but everybody expects a lot of Napoli.”
