NAPLES (ITALPRESS) – “Did I expect a first place like this? It’s been 12 days. There are so many teams packed into very few points. We are doing well but so are the others. Maybe there is a bit of astonishment to see some teams that are in that position.” Thus spoke Antonio Conte at the press conference introducing Sunday’s match between Napoli and Roma. “A trap game? It’s not a question of risking who knows what. It’s always a soccer match. I am pleased to meet Ranieri. There is great esteem with Claudio. There is also friendship. I am happy for him. I thought he would be back on the bench of some national team. It will be a tough game for both us and them. Let’s not forget that Roma finished ahead of us last year,” Conte added, “They are participating in the Europa League. It is not performing according to the values of the squad. But I hope everything will work out after the game with Napoli.” On what Roma will face after the change in the bench, for Conte “it’s all an enigma. Let’s see how they will face us. We have to think about ourselves. The boys have worked well. They have the desire to continue this path. The return of Lobotka? In the last five games we won three times, drew with Inter and lost with Atalanta. Gilmour did not do so badly, better to clarify that. Lobotka is back from the national team and we’ll see if we can assess his condition. How are Lukaku and McTominay doing? They have been training and there are no problems. Olivera trained yesterday, he did it again today. He will be there tomorrow as well. He still has 48 hours to work off some fatigue.” Inevitable, however, to return to Inter-Napoli and Conte’s outburst against Var. “I raised a case to make soccer better. After Mr. Mariani made the decision, I thought there was no contact with Var. There was a recording where the Var confirmed a contact. But soccer is about contact. You can’t just say only there was contact. What kind of contact? Mild, penalty contact. I hope it improves and next time we give help to the referee. That he can see wrong at that moment. We have technology on our side. Let’s make use of it, if there is contact you have to understand whether to confirm or change the decision made. Mariani had conducted the match well but no one helped him.” The coach then retorts to Marotta: “He says he knows what I want when I say things? I thank the director. Today he is the president of Inter but he is not my president. I am glad that he understood that I am an intelligent person, that I do good communication. Definitely my goals are not his. We are opponents and rivals.” – photo Ipa Agency -(ITALPRESS).
