Napoli coach peels off Guardiola's praise

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia on March 14, Guardiola said that Napoli is the best team in Europe right now. But when asked about this, Spalletti was not very happy.

"I'm not proud to be praised like that," said the Italian coach after defeating Frankfurt 3-0 in the second leg of the 1/8 Champions League round on the evening of March 15. "I know people play this psychological game to put pressure on others."

Spalletti also denied that Napoli was at the top compared to Man City, pointing out that the English team can spend nearly a billion dollars to buy players, while his team only has about 10 million dollars. "It's just a psychological game with the aim of misleading us," he concluded.

Napoli are in great form in the Champions League. Before defeating Frankfurt in the end 5-0 in the 1/8 round to enter the quarterfinals for the first time in 118 years, the home team Diego Maradona led Group A with 15 points - slightly better than Liverpool. They also touched the Serie A championship for the first time since the 1989-1990 season, even leading the league with 68 points after 26 rounds, 18 points ahead of second-placed Inter.

Yesterday, Napoli only needed 67 minutes to score three goals against Frankfurt. Spalletti was not satisfied with the first half, but insisted he still appreciated his players for efficiency. "The basic thing is that we have to maintain the same attitude as tonight," the Napoli coach emphasized. "We didn't have the usual quality in the start, but we still made good moves and gave the opponent very few chances."

Spalletti described Victor Osimhen, who scored twice in the second leg, as an outstanding striker. But according to him, even if he can do a little solo, create unexpected breakthroughs, Osimhen also needs to coordinate with the rest of the team.