Serie A leader Napoli will use Thursday’s Coppa Italia last-16 tie at Lazio to give some of its little used squad members an opportunity to play, manager Antonio Conte said on Tuesday.
Napoli is not in Europe this season and, while having fewer games may give it an advantage over its Serie A rivals, it limits the chances for players to get valuable game time.
Napoli has already played two rounds in the Cup, with early season wins over Serie B sides Modena and Palermo.
“This year in some respects it is penalising for many players because we only have the league and we have the Coppa Italia,” Conte told reporters ahead of the Lazio clash. “We played two games, the season opener with Modena then with Palermo there was the possibility to give space to the players who had less time until then and tomorrow we’ll have another clear opportunity to test everyone’s growth a bit.”
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Conte is not looking past the Lazio game but is willing to reward players who have contributed to its successful season so far even if they have not had much time on the pitch.
“We always look at game-by-game, so the most important is Thursday’s,” he added. “Having said that, I’ll make choices because there are many players in the squad. We had a good start but it must not only be thanks to the 12-13 who took part.
“The credit must be shared with the entire squad, those who took over and those who played little or nothing but kept the intensity and competition high in training.”
Conte also responded to Inter Milan president Giuseppe Marotta who said Napoli are favourite to win the league. It has 32 points ahead of Atalanta (31), Inter and Fiorentina, with a game in hand, and Lazio (28) and Juventus (26).
“The director can say what he wants,” Conte said. “But I think that at the end of the year if Inter were not to win the Scudetto he would not be very happy and would not consider the season a good season.
“They are focusing a lot on us and perhaps do not see who can really be the one who bothers them.”
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