Serie A leaders Napoli continued their impressive unbeaten run with a victory at AC Milan on Tuesday and, while manager Antonio Conte can no longer brush off talk of a Scudetto title triumph, a return to European football is still the main objective.
A 2-0 win at San Siro means Napoli have gone nine league games without defeat and has seen them open a seven point lead at the top ahead of Inter Milan who visit Empoli on Wednesday.
After their dismal title defence last season left Napoli without any European action in this campaign, Conte continues to try to balance the expectations at the club.
“Scudetto? No one is hiding. We see realistically what we are doing this year,” he told DAZN. “After 10 games it has something of the incredible and unexpected, not even the craziest would have predicted it. But we remain with our feet on the ground.
“We know what our goal is, which is to return to Europe. But there are five or six teams that have the same idea. Winning in Naples would be something incredible. We have given ourselves three years. We are rebuilding something and it takes time.”
After such an impressive start, Conte knows it will be hard to stop the Napoli supporters thinking of another title success.
“We try to feed the dreams of the fans, but we need to have balance,” Conte added. “Our fans followed us with passion even today, it is right that they dream. We have to be prepared when there is some setback.
“We want to make the Neapolitan fans proud of this team.”
AC Milan slipped further away from the top of Serie A but manager Paulo Fonseca said winning the title is still a possibility.
Milan are already 11 points behind Napoli and, while they have a game in hand, their third league defeat of the season leaves them playing catch-up not only to the pacesetters but also their other main title rivals, Inter and Juventus.
Fonseca was asked if the Scudetto remained the objective and the Portuguese was clearly not giving up at this stage of the season, with Milan hampered by the absence of several players including the suspended Theo Hernández and Tijjani Reijnders.
“I can’t say the opposite. Especially seeing how we played, how the team responded to a difficult moment and how it showed unity even without important players,” Fonseca told DAZN.
“No team has won the league after nine games and none has lost it after nine games, for this reason we must continue on the path of growth. Clearly we will need results to enter this fight.”
The coach shouldered the blame for the latest loss but was happy with how his side responded after going a goal down early on when Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring.
“I’m always responsible for what happens on the pitch and once again I take this responsibility,” Fonseca said.
“It’s not easy to start the game with a Napoli goal after five minutes, but if we look at the result, they scored two goals and we created the chances.
“The team had a good reaction at the beginning of the game, we played positive football with quality. It’s not easy against a Napoli team that … defends in front of its penalty area.”
