Conte: ‘Napoli deserved it more, but penalties were interminable’

Napoli coach Antonio Conte insists ‘the team that deserved it the most went through’ to the Coppa Italia quarter-final after an ‘interminable’ penalty shoot-out against Cagliari.

The Partenopei found it much tougher than expected to get the better of Cagliari and end their Coppa Italia curse, having struggled to get beyond the Round of 16 in recent years.

They had taken the lead through Lorenzo Lucca’s header, but a ricochet off Scott McTominay helped send Sebastiano Esposito through to score the equaliser.

As there is no extra time in the Coppa Italia before the semi-final, it went straight to a penalty shoot-out at 1-1, and even that dragged on to sudden death after a Mattia Felici miss and Elia Caprile save on David Neres.

Specialist Vanja Milinkovic-Savic scored one, but only made one save out of 10, denying Zito Luvumbo so that Alessandro Buongiorno could net the winner.

“It was an interminable run of penalties, we needed a shoot-out to beat Modena last season in the Coppa Italia too,” said Conte in his press conference.

“This was much tougher, because all the players took very good kicks, and it was difficult for the goalkeepers. At the end of the day, the team that deserved it the most went through.

“It’s a pity we conceded that goal with an unlucky ricochet off McTominay, but I saw a good response from everyone. We know there aren’t many of us available at the moment, but we’ve got to just keep going and do the best with what we’ve got.”

Conte has largely resisted squad rotation so far this season between Serie A and the Champions League, but finally gave players some rare starts this evening, just days ahead of a Scudetto showdown against Juventus.

“At times you are forced to make certain decisions. We did it against Lazio too, we needed to see certain players from the start,” added Conte.

“We play every three days and the same ones can’t do it all the time. I am happy with the responses I received, we knew it would be a struggle.

“Everyone feels a great sense of responsibility and we are all doing what we need to. I am pleased with that.”

Lucca scored a goal, having disappointed in other recent appearances, including a red card in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.

“His performance was the same as the other players, he has to keep working hard to improve and be a good alternative,” concluded Conte.

Napoli will now go on to face either Como or Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.