Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka believes the Scudetto race is like a fairytale for the club, but insists the race for the title is not over yet. The Slovak international took time out to speak with Il Mattino (via IlMioNapoli) and discussed Napoli’s stellar season so far and the comparisons people are making between him and Xavi:
“I did not have, at the beginning, just some physical problems. Actually it is the confidence in myself that was lacking. I tried to improve myself but I had to deal with the fact that I had no continuity on the pitch. And how do you improve if you have no space in a game?
“I waited for my turn to come and even fought for more chances because I never gave up. But I must say that it was a complicated period and there were more than a few difficulties in those moments because I was not playing, I was not finding the rhythm and the mental health. And the right path was not easy to find. And I found it only with the arrival of Spalletti.”
“Comparisions with Xavi and Iniesta? Of course, they are beautiful and they make me proud. Xavi and Iniesta are two talents that I have always admired also because, they, like me, have always given the impression that they play for their teammates, that they want to help the team win. Because every play must be aimed at leading to a goal.”
“Scudetto? How can I hide that it’s a fairy tale? It feels good to be so high, but we are not there yet. It’s not over with 16 games left to play: it’s not a few, it’s a lot. Because we might lose sooner or later even though we hope never to lose again. We have to keep going down the field without thinking that we are so high. And in the end I hope we win the Scudetto.”
“Champions League? True, we have come a long way. Before the season, no one believed in us, we were alone but it never troubled us. On the contrary. We made a strength out of it. In the Champions League no one thought we could do so well but we had good matches and showed our quality football. The compliments that came our way with the European wins were important.”
