Napoli boss Rudi Garcia after Real Madrid loss: “A draw was the fairest result”

Napoli boss Rudi Garcia believes that a draw was the fairest result for the club against Real Madrid, who picked up a 3-2 win.

The Partenopei gave a very good account of themselves at home and had gone 1-0 up through Leo Ostigaard, but Real Madrid drew level through Vinicius Junior. Jude Bellingham inevitably made it 2-1, but Napoli equalised through Piotr Zielinski’s spot-kick in the second half, only to see Federico Valverde hit a rocket past Alex Meret.

There was controversy about the penalty Napoli received, but the Partenopei still put in a fairly decent display in the game. Garcia told Infinity (via TMW) that Napoli deserved a point and a draw would have been a fairer result for his side.

He said: “The draw was much fairer, we played on equal terms with Real Madrid but I am happy with the performance of my players and above all with the reaction in the second half. I saw an aggressive Napoli who dribbled, they wanted to score goals, equalize and we must improve in those fifteen minutes after Vinicius’ equalizer where we made a mistake in our attitude. We had to regroup and close the pitch, we will also need it for the next Champions League matches.”

Napoli have won once in the group stages so far, beating Braga away from home. As things stand, they seem well on track to finish second on the group and they could enhance their chances further if they beat Union Berlin in the next game.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN