Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti has said that he does not view Saturday’s game as a chance to take revenge on Inter, according to a report in the Italian media today.
Speaking during his press conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s big match, via FCInternews, Luciano Spalletti explained that he is focusing on himself and his team rather than getting any sort of revenge over Inter given he used to coach the Nerazzurri.
“I have no revenge to take on Inter. I go by my way of working, I have to be lucky to find players who think like me and make me look good. It’s an important match, it equates to the time it takes and the sacrifices made to get there.
“Everyone’s careers depend on these matches here, we care a lot and for me, it won’t be revenge: I know how much some of the players there respect me.”
There is a lot of talk that Kalidou Koulibaly could return to the Napoli team for this match after winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal last weekend.
It is clear that Luciano Spalletti has a huge amount of admiration for the defender both as a player and as a man. He said that he is waiting to see him in training tomorrow.
“It seems disrespectful to me, especially to those who would have to make room for him, if I chose to let him in from the first moment. It is clear that Koulibaly is a different footballer, just look at what he did in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations after winning, going to greet his opponents.
“It is the quality of the man, the qualities of the player are a different thing. We must keep in mind what they have done in the last few days, he was also injured so from my point of view it is easy because everything I do is fine in this case. But we’ll wait until tomorrow to see in training.”
Luciano Spalletti also revealed that he has told his team to treat every game the same no matter who the opponent is or how good they are.
“We often talk about a group of the top teams, they are the administrators of this group because they are the reigning champions. They will be a little angry about the derby.
“We respect them, but our attitude does not change. I told the team we had to play against Venezia as if it were Inter, now we will have to play against Inter as if it were Venezia: our attitude must not change, also out of respect for those who will support us.
“They have characteristics in which they are stronger, in others we are stronger. It will be necessary to see who will bring the speech into their own characteristics.”
