Napoli coach furious after the draw in Copenhagen: “We complicated our own lives. It hurts me a lot, and it should hurt the players too.”
Antonio Conte did not hide his frustration after Napoli’s damaging 1-1 draw away to FC Copenhagen in the Champions League. Speaking with visible anger and disappointment, the Italian coach admitted that his side wasted a huge opportunity and questioned whether Napoli are currently at the level required to compete in Europe’s elite competition.
“The bitterness is enormous,” Conte said after the match. “We work so hard, and situations like this have to bother you. If they don’t, it means you don’t want to grow. There is absolutely no reason—on earth or in heaven—why Copenhagen should equalize in a game like this, knowing how important it was.”
Napoli were in control of the match and played with a man advantage for over an hour, yet still failed to secure all three points. For Conte, there is no room for alibis.
“We could list a thousand excuses, but this time they don’t count,” he continued. “The conditions were perfect to win. These are games you must win. Instead, we showed once again how much we struggle away from home in the Champions League.”
The Napoli coach was particularly upset by his team’s lack of killer instinct and emotional edge.
“In football you have to be angry, hungry, from the first second to the last,” Conte said. “Otherwise, you always risk getting punished. This draw hurts me deeply, and it has to hurt the players too. We all need to make a big mea culpa.”
Napoli’s European campaign now looks increasingly complicated, with only eight points collected so far.
“Maybe our level right now is not Champions League level,” Conte admitted bluntly. “That’s the reality of the numbers. These matches have to be brought home. There’s not much to explain—there’s just a lot to be angry about. We didn’t fully understand what was at stake, and we made things harder for ourselves.”
Looking ahead, Napoli face a daunting run of fixtures, including Juventus and Chelsea. Still, Conte insists the season is far from decided.
“It’s the end of January,” he said. “We’ll keep working and try to give the best version of ourselves with the players we have. But today, despite everything, we had to win. We were dominating in every aspect, and yet we managed to complicate our own lives. It’s something that must make us reflect.”
Conte concluded with a clear message: “It was a great opportunity. We managed to ruin it. From tomorrow, we’ll start thinking about Juventus—but today, no matter the excuses, this was a game we had to win. Period.”
