Napoli were "denied a penalty", says Fracesco Calzona
Napoli coach Francesco Calzona said his side competed "as equals" with Barcelona on Tuesday in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, although he lamented the "concessions" that cost his side a 3-1 elimination.
"We fought head-to-head with Barcelona. Although they say they are in crisis, they are a team that is fighting for La Liga and have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. They are a great team," said the Italian coach from the press room at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Calzona underlined Napoli's evolution since his arrival, although he regretted that they lacked consistency: "In three weeks, we've played six games and we haven't had much time to work. The distances between the lines are an important flaw and we lost them at times, but the biggest problem was the ball losses, at least in the first half".
"After that, we had kept possession, we started the second half quite well and then we lost our way from long range. As well as the penalty we were denied, we missed chances to equalise. We conceded too much to Barca," he added.
The Italian coach assured that he is not so much worried about the lack of goals, because "this is a team that finds the way to score", as the defensive fragility: "In the moments when we worked well, we won the ball back in Barcelona's half, but it lasted too little".
"We knew we had to press Barcelona up front, but we did it too slowly. At times, we competed, but not long enough," added the Italian coach, who felt a penalty should have been awarded for a foul by Pau Cubarsi on Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen.
Read on besoccer.com
