Conte: Napoli should be ‘angry’ as they head to Juventus after Champions League misery

By Canadian Press on January 22, 2026.

MILAN (AP) — Napoli players are making life difficult for themselves and face an uphill struggle in Europe and at home.

Coach Antonio Conte was fuming after Napoli could only draw against 10-man Copenhagen on Tuesday to leave it on the brink of Champions League elimination, saying he and his players should be “angry and disappointed” in themselves.

“We all have to hold our hands up, there’s little to talk about, we just need to be angry — very, very angry — with ourselves,” Conte said. “Maybe we didn’t perceive the importance of what was at stake.

“It’s as if we were running a race downhill and somehow we made it uphill all by ourselves.”

Napoli’s injury problems continue to mount but Conte said his team should still have beaten Copenhagen, especially with a man advantage for most of the match.

Napoli will likely fall out of the Champions League completely next week unless it manages to beat Chelsea.

Before that it faces a tricky trip to Juventus on Sunday, looking to avoid losing more ground in the Serie A title race.

Napoli has slipped to third, six points behind league leader Inter Milan after last weekend’s victory over Sassuolo ended a run of three straight draws.

The defending champion is only four points above fifth-placed Juventus.

Key matchups

The match in Turin sees both coaches face their former teams.

Spalletti left Napoli in 2023 after steering it to its first league title in 33 years, saying at the time that he needed a year off. However, just three months later he was appointed as the new Italy coach after Roberto Mancini surprisingly resigned.

Spalletti was fired from the Italy job in June and Juventus hired him in October after the Bianconeri fired Igor Tudor for a poor start to the season.

Conte played for Juventus for 13 years and steered the team to three straight titles as coach from 2011-14.

Napoli beat Juventus 2-1 at home seven weeks ago.

By the time the teams kick off in Turin, Inter could be nine points clear of Napoli as the Nerazzurri host relegation-threatened Pisa on Friday.

Second-placed AC Milan visits Roma on Sunday in another intriguing tussle. Milan is three points below Inter and four above fourth-placed Roma.

Players to watch

Donyell Malen had a dream debut for Roma last week, scoring just two days after joining on loan from Aston Villa.

New AC Milan signing Niclas Füllkrug will also be pushing for a place in the starting lineup after scoring the only goal in his team’s victory over Lecce, three minutes after being substituted in.

Out of action

Winger Matteo Politano and defender Amir Rrahmani are the latest Napoli players out injured. They have joined David Neres, Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa, Billy Gilmour and Alex Meret in the treatment room.

Milan winger Alexis Saelemaekers has an adductor injury and is a big doubt for the Roma match.

Off the field

Roma and Fiorentina supporters have been banned from away fixtures in Italy for the rest of the season.

The Interior Ministry issued the ban after clashes on the side of a motorway on Sunday between Roma fans on the way to their team’s match at Torino and Fiorentina supporters travelling to Bologna.

More than 200 fans were involved.

The ruling also referenced violent incidents involving the clubs’ fans in Italy and abroad.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Daniella Matar, The Associated Press