Maurizio Sarri reveals what went wrong at the start of Napoli’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City and is confident Lorenzo Insigne’s injury “isn’t serious.”

The Partenopei were completely dominated in the first half-hour of this Champions League clash, but after going 2-0 down within 13 minutes and seeing Dries Mertens’ penalty saved by Ederson, they came back into it with Amadou Diawara.

Maurizio Sarri reveals what went wrong at the start of Napoli’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City and is confident Lorenzo Insigne’s injury “isn’t serious.”

The Partenopei were completely dominated in the first half-hour of this Champions League clash, but after going 2-0 down within 13 minutes and seeing Dries Mertens’ penalty saved by Ederson, they came back into it with Amadou Diawara.

“We got the pressing and distances wrong, so allowed them too many spaces and City then become devastating. Conceding after five minutes was a real blow,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.

“We were poor in the first 25 minutes, but did very well after that, as despite missing a penalty, we reacted, put a great side under the cosh and came close to an equaliser.

“Playing for an hour on level terms with a side like this is really impressive. It leaves us with regrets over the missed penalty, but I think we got a response here about what we can do.

“If you are behind to City and are forced to give them space, they become really difficult. They’ve got technique, hard running, commitment and determination, so they’ve got it all.”

“I saw our pressing that started, but was not accompanied and they are already so good at passing that they can work their way out of difficult situations, while we allowed them four or five extra metres, so it was easy for them.

“In the second half we doubled up on the pressing and did much better. Already towards the end of the first half, the situation had improved a great deal.”

There was also a blow when Insigne limped off clutching his thigh, a concern above all with Inter coming up on Saturday.

“Insigne had pain in the adductor that was progressively getting worse. It wasn’t a sudden moment, so it shouldn’t be anything serious, but he was feeling it worse and quite rightly asked to be substituted to avoid anything more serious.”

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