Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti said an intense month of pre-season training and friendlies had left his players tired in their 4-0 defeat to Barcelona, but he insisted his squad is ready for the new Serie A season.
Second-half goals from Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele, along with a brace from Luis Suarez after the break, earned Barcelona a convincing win in Michigan, though Ancelotti claimed the opening two strikes should not have stood.
Suarez buried the rebound after a Griezmann shot was saved in the 48th minute, and the Frenchman scored himself eight minutes later after a pass from Jordi Alba, who appeared to be in an offside position.
Ancelotti defended his side s performance, telling reporters: We played well in the first half but then we were affected by those two offside goals at the start of the second half.
We were up against a magnificent team and afterwards they took control, but those two goals shouldn t have been given and they changed the match.
I think we were also a little tired due to the heavy training loads after a month of intense work. I don t see any problems other than that.
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— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli)
Napoli travel to Fiorentina for their Serie A season opener on August 24 having won three, lost three, and drawn one of their pre-season friendlies.
Despite their mixed form and relatively modest activity in the transfer market, with three of their six major signings being goalkeepers, Ancelotti remains optimistic about Napoli s chances of improving on their second-placed finish in 2018-19.
My general impression is good after these two matches with Barcelona, he said, reflecting on Saturday s defeat and the 2-1 reverse in their previous outing against the Blaugrana.
We ll build on this as we continue to work towards the start of the season.
I m happy with the work we ve done both on our training camp and in these international friendlies we ve played. We have a top-quality squad and I m sure we can have an excellent season.
I ve seen a lot of things I like from the lads and the overall feeling is positive. We ll be ready when the season begins on 24 August.
