Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti praised his team after their comprehensive 3-1 victory at Zurich in the Europa League Round of 32, but conceded they needed to improve their finishing.
The Partenopei secured a comfortable win in the first leg of their tie against the Swiss outfit through goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Jose Callejon and Piotr Zielinski, but were made to sweat after a courageous fight back in the final 15 minutes.
However, Ancelotti was satisfied with the performance of his team and, whilst admitting that a greater cutting edge was needed, conceded that the playing surface at the Stadio Letzigrund hampered Napoli’s attack at times.
“We started well by initially putting them under pressure and we had the skill and fortunate to score early on,” the former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach declared in his post match press conference.
“We continued in the right spirit despite the conditions of the pitch. It could have been a bigger margin of victory with greater precision, although we must also consider that the pitch prevented us from finalising opportunities at times.
“The most important thing is that we are winning going into the second leg, although we need to improve in some aspects if we are to achieve our goals.”
Napoli welcome Zurich to the Stadio San Paolo for the return fixture next Thursday, as they hope to build on their commanding first leg lead.
