Spinazzola ‘happy’ after Napoli bounce back from Milan defeat with win over Sporting

Leonardo Spinazzola was one of Napoli’s stand-out players in their 2-1 Champions League victory over Sporting Lisbon, filling in on the right for the suspended Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

Di Lorenzo was sent off in the Neapolitan side’s opener in the tournament against Manchester City, as Conte’s team fell to a defeat to the Premier League giants.

“I felt pretty good, even if of course I’m more comfortable on the left,” Spinazzola told Sky Sport, via the Corriere dello Sport. The defender admitted the unusual role required some adjustment, but he rose to the challenge.

Spinazzola on De Bruyne situation and Napoli defeat to Milan

Much of the post-match discussion focused on the internal situation with Kevin De Bruyne but Spinazzola moved quickly to play it down:

“The De Bruyne case? It lasted five minutes because we are all intelligent people. We don’t put malice in our actions and we all want the good of Napoli.”

There had been press talk of a rift between De Bruyne and Conte after the coach substituted the Belgian during the weekend’s defeat to Milan. However, much of it looks blown out of proportion by the media.

Spinazzola then underlined the value of the result tonight.

“Three very important points against a strong team, full of young, technical and quick players. After a good start we dropped off a little, but in the second half we pushed again.”

Finally, Spinazzola concluded: “We are happy to have sent a signal after the defeat against Milan and now we must finish this cycle well against Genoa.”

Read our full match report here.