Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti hailed Victor Osimhen as a ‘leader’ in the team: ‘He has the right mentality’. The Nigerian striker was on target yet again, taking his tally to 11 goals in his last eight games for the Partenopei, on course to break Gabriel Batistuta’s record of scoring in 11 games in a row. Speaking with DAZN after the match, Spalletti heralded his team’s performance, particularly how they responded in difficult moments, including their management of the game after Mario Rui was sent off for kicking Francesco Caputo in the crotch:
“That incident was not a sign of maturity, unlike what we saw from the rest of the squad, but we also saw that the other players united together and reacted very well to it.
“The midfielders were so tough in the second half, with really furious faces determined to bring home a result that could be fundamental this season.
“Lobotka is hailed for his quality when the team has possession, but when the opposition try to counter, you can’t get past him. He chases everyone down, even those much taller and stronger. He has this almost cubic physique that makes him very difficult to push off his centre of gravity.
“Inter had Financial Fair Play issues at the time and we couldn’t sign him then, but the fact Cristiano Giuntoli went for him shows that Lobotka already made an impression on the best sporting directors in Europe.
“If players like Elmas come on and work with his intensity, determination and fight for every ball, that allows us to not suffer being a man down. The risk today was that we would not match Empoli’s level of fight, because they really do run for 100 minutes and always press you at the same intensity.
“We needed Napoli to have the usual quality, but also the same intensity, and Empoli ultimately had to give in. My players deserve huge congratulations for their performance today.
“Osimhen? At the end of the first half, he was a little angry with me as well going into the break as I had told him off. The first thing he said was, hey, don’t forget what happened last season. Osimhen is a leader, he has the right mentality, the desire to work with the collective and fight for the result.
“That can also damage him, because once again today he had a couple of chances that he didn’t take because he was tired from having worked so hard just before that.
“Everyone plays the game of a lifetime against us, so we need to keep our motivation and focus up too. That means the team has understood the right spirit. This was an imperious show of strength.”
