Gennaro Gattuso admits Napoli ‘were in a position to finish it off, but ended up lucky to get a point’ away to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.

Dries Mertens had put the Partenopei in front early on, but Bruno Martins Indi equalised and David Ospina ultimately had to save a penalty.

The 1-1 result means Napoli are still top of their group on 10 points and will qualify as long as they don’t lose to Real Sociedad.

Gennaro Gattuso admits Napoli ‘were in a position to finish it off, but ended up lucky to get a point’ away to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.

Dries Mertens had put the Partenopei in front early on, but Bruno Martins Indi equalised and David Ospina ultimately had to save a penalty.

The 1-1 result means Napoli are still top of their group on 10 points and will qualify as long as they don’t lose to Real Sociedad.

“We could’ve killed the game off, we didn’t, and in the end I think we were lucky to get a point,” Gattuso told Sky Sport Italia.

“We allowed them too much of the ball as time wore on, we made mistakes. If you analyse it, both teams had chances, we could easily have lost too.

“It wasn’t a great performance. There were four or five situations we could’ve read better. In recent times, we’ve had a lot of support off the bench, but that didn’t really happen today.

“Now we have to see it out with Real Sociedad. It’s a pity, because we could’ve finished it all off today and we were in the position to achieve that, but we ended up almost losing.

“There are some positives, but I focus on the negative first. We didn’t control the game during the 90 minutes, whether we had the ball or not. There are positives, we created the chances against a very talented team with a lot of pace.

“We lost our way in the second half and the substitutes didn’t contribute very much.”

Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli said before kick-off that Gattuso had agreed a new contract.

“Contracts are not my priority, it’s about daily work. We’ll see, but I am happy to work with a contract that’s four or five months long, I don’t mind.

“I know that I’m a pain for my players and keep hammering them constantly. I tried to do this work differently, I can’t, so they just have to get used to it.”

Andrea Petagna had two huge opportunities towards the end of the game after he came off the bench, while the goalkeeper came flying out to stop Hirving Lozano one-on-one.

Gattuso was asked about how Napoli are dealing without injured Victor Osimhen, who dislocated his shoulder on international duty.

“Massimiliano Allegri taught me a great deal. He said we’ll always put 11 out on the pitch and that’s all that matters. There’s no point sitting here complaining that Osimhen isn’t available, we just have to make do.”

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