Napoli manager Antonio Conte praised his side following a narrow win over Atalanta at Saturday, highlighting the significant growth the team has shown over the past few months.
Romelu Lukaku’s late header secured a 3-2 victory for Napoli, boosting their Scudetto hopes and avenging their 3-0 home loss to Atalanta in November.
“I had already said before the match that this team has grown a lot. Don’t forget that just over two months ago, Atalanta put three goals past us at home,” Conte told reporters.
“I think if we’d had even more time to go through the process, we’d have done even better. The team has above all grown in dealing with difficulties, that is what I want to underline.”
Conte acknowledged the challenges his side faced with key player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia having left for Paris St Germain and defender Alessandro Buongiorno sidelined due to injury.
“We are facing some situations, both in terms of injuries and most recently the transfer market, situations that would kill a bull, but we are still standing,” he said.
“We don’t complain, we keep working and I always say that I have a group of players who are eager to work hard. The improvement of each individual player then allows us to improve collectively too.”
Conte declined to talk about finding a replacement for Kvaratskhelia.
“I leave the decision to the club. I don’t get into the transfer market,” he said.
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini took the defeat in stride.
“I maintain we emerge stronger from games like this. We now have the Champions League, then Serie A and the Coppa Italia, we are playing every three days, so we do not have time for regrets over a result that didn’t go our way,” Gasperini told Sky Sports Italia.
“It’s fine, we have to focus on our journey and perhaps today we paid a heavy price, in other games we were luckier, but overall I saw a great performance.”
