Dries Mertens believes Napoli virtually went to bed and forgot about the Champions League Round of 16 tie to Barcelona. ‘After conceding, we lost ideas about what we were supposed to do.’
The Belgian hit the woodwork within two minutes at Camp Nou, but despite all their pressure and chances, the Partenopei emerged with a 3-1 defeat, going out 4-2 on aggregate.
“We did well in the first 10 minutes, then just gifted them the game,” Mertens told Sky Sport Italia.
“Barcelona have so much quality and created scoring opportunities out of nothing. We showed after the break that we were in great shape physically and could be dangerous, but yet again we didn’t score enough of our chances.”
The Clement Lenglet header on a corner should’ve been disallowed for a push, but after that, Napoli let their heads drop and went 3-0 down.
“After conceding the goal, we forgot what we were supposed to do. If we build on this and learn to stay focused, we can do really well next season. I can’t wait to get started next term, I’m already hungry.”
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Napoli won’t be resuming next season with Jose Callejon, who has decided not to extend his contract.
“We’ll miss him immensely. He’s given me so many assists over the years, as he has this way of running to the back post that gets the opposition defence caught out.”
