Rafa Benítez, SSC Napoli head coach, was happy at the end of their game against Slovan Bratislava (3-0), in their sixth and last game of the UEFA Europa League at home in the San Paolo. The Spanish coach highlighted the great result and praised his players for qualifying in group stages top of the table. At their usual press conference after the game, the head coach of the Neapolitan team declared: “this is an excellent result, but in all fairness in games like this you could score even more goals. We had chances to do so, you have to make the most of those opportunities.”

“The truth is we started this game very well,” continued the coach of the Neapolitan team who once again insisted “in games like this one, where we begin playing very well from the very first minute, with confidence and composure on the pitch, I believe we have to achieve an even greater result. A three nil scoreline is a good result, of course, but I think we could have scored even more goals.”

Hamsik has been one of the protagonists of this game, scoring after a long goal scoring dry spell. The ´azzurro´ coach praised, like he has on many occasions, the talent of the Slovakian, declaring: “Marek has collected the fruits of his work and daily efforts. Today he scored and we are very happy for him, it couldn’t be any other way. In addition to this point, he is a very important player for this team and the objectives we have set this season. I speak a lot with Hamsik, we analyse the games together and he knows perfectly well that he has complete freedom to move, stay in the middle, go back to defend or go forward in attack. I am very happy with his great work and I am convinced that he will continue scoring many goals and help us gain many points and positive things.”

When asked if Napoli believes in the possibility of winning the UEFA Europa League, the head coach of the Neapolitan club replied: “we have a good team but we face opponents of great quality and a high tactical level. I know this competition very well and I know it is very demanding (the Spaniard has won this competition twice, first when it was the UEFA Cup with Valencia and later as the Europa League with Chelsea). We are pleased to have won and qualified for the next stage, we will face this European challenge with confidence and determination. Our goal, bearing in mind what I have just said, is to get as far as we possibly can.”

To finish, Benítez made some declarations about their forthcoming Serie A game against AC Milan in the ‘San Siro’ stadium: “it will be a game of a very high technical level, against an opponent of proven quality. We must keep the adequate mentality, the same as we did in previous important games,” said the Spaniard.