The Napoli coach on Osimhen’s controversial gesture during the substitution: “I have already talked to him, but that stays between us. The missed penalty? It happens even to the greatest, Osimhen remains our penalty taker”
Bologna-Napoli ended 0-0, with Osimhen being at the center of (negative) attention due to him missing a lot chances to score a winner. Rudi Garcia discussed substituting him in his post-game remarks:
“I’ve already talked to Osimhen, but that stays between us. The missed penalty? It happens to the greatest too, he remains our penalty taker,” he said to DAZN. He added, “When a player is substituted and isn’t happy, it’s a good thing. Players may not always be pleased with their performance.”
Regarding the substitutions Kvartskhelia is another name that was on subs list, “Osimhen, like Kvara, did well, but we have a lot of quality on the bench. When you have that, you don’t play with the same eleven for ninety minutes. The players know this: there’s the starting team and the finishing team. If I don’t count on everyone, we won’t go anywhere.”
Garcia was nonetheless satisfied with the performance: “The negative aspect is the result, but the performance was good, especially in the first half,” he continued. “It’s positive not to concede a goal; Natan played confidently, and it was the right moment to include him.”
“Then, I can say we hit a post and a missed penalty, and when you don’t capitalize on that, it becomes difficult to win, but that’s football. Overall, the game was interesting, but we’re not satisfied.”
Finally, on the season’s objectives, he said, “A team like Napoli should play in the Champions League every year. Right now, we’re not there, and we’re not happy. We need confidence and a change in our favor. The gap with Inter? We need a winning streak to get back in contention.”
