Napoli skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo
blamed a poor start for Tuesday's 3-1 defeat at Barcelona that
condemned them to a 4-2 aggregate defeat and a last 16 exit in
the Champions League.
Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo gave the hosts an early lead and
Barca looked like they were on the way to a rout for a spell.
But Amir Rrahmani pulled one back for Napoli and, from then on,
the visitors caused the Catalan giants plenty of problems before
Robert Lewandowski touched home in the second half to take them
out of range.
"The start of the game affected us," Di Lorenzo said.
"You can't afford to concede two goals in a few minutes at this
level.
"After that rocky start, we did well to get back into the game
and give it our all to the very end. It's clear that we got off
to a very bad start.
"It's a real shame about being knocked out because we really
wanted to continue our Champions League journey.
"Now we need to give our all in the next 10 matches of Serie A
to try and reach fourth place and earn a Champions League spot
for next season."
Italian champions Napoli are currently seventh in Serie A with
44 points with 10 games to go, seven points behind fourth-placed
Bologna.
The Champions League exit means that Napoli will not take part
in the next Club World Cup, with Juventus qualifying instead.
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