Pep Guardiola claimed Napoli are ‘the best team in Europe’ after the Italian side advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 on aggregate in the round of 16. Luciano Spalletti also became the first manager to lead Napoli to the last eight of the Champions League, whereas they also lead Serie A by 18 points over second-place Inter.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been closely following Napoli’s progress and heaped praise on them after his side’s 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. Guardiola’s comments, however, have been dismissed by Spalletti as ‘mind games’ designed to derail the Naples side if they meet City in the quarterfinals or the latter stages of the competition.
I don’t feel proud, I don’t feel anything – Spalletti dismisses Pep Guardiola’s claims
Pep Guardiola’s praise for Napoli, according to Luciano Spalletti, is a ploy to ‘knock us down’ ahead of a potential Champions League showdown. Spalletti was asked about Guardiola’s comments after Napoli’s 3-0 second-leg win over Eintracht Frankfurt. The Napoli boss was ecstatic after advancing to the next round, but he also urged his players to keep the same attitude as the road to a potential final in Istanbul will only get tougher. Spalletti told Amazon Prime Italia:
“It is a great result, we are going to enjoy it along with all our fans. Now it becomes fundamental that we maintain the same attitude we had this evening, because we didn’t have the same quality as usual at the start, but we still executed the moves well and allowed very little to the opposition. We kept clear heads. If Napoli in the entire history of this club had not reached the quarter-finals before, that means this is a great result.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told Sky Sport Italia yesterday that Napoli are ‘the best team’ in Europe right now, but Spalletti wasn’t buying it. The former Inter coach added:
“I don’t feel proud, I don’t feel anything. I know this game that everyone does to put pressure on the others. Are we putting Napoli in front of Manchester City? If they can spend €900m compared to our €9m, there must be a reason. It’s a game to build us up so they can knock us down.”
Both Napoli and Manchester City will learn who their quarter-final opponents will be when the draw takes place on March 17. Although the two teams are in a rich vein of form, they will be hoping to avoid each other. Pep Guardiola is also desperate to lead City to Champions League glory, since that has been expected from day one he arrived at the Etihad. Spalletti, too, will want his side’s formidable form to churn out a positive outcome in the European competition for the first time sine 1989.