Garcia after 4-1 victory over Udinese: “We played well. I have an excellent relationship with Osimhen; after the Bologna match, we were all upset. The chaos of the last few hours? Clumsy incidents, but no one intended to harm anyone.”
UDINESE
Napoli banishes the ghosts. With a 4-1 victory against Udinese, ‘gli azzurri‘ put aside the negative results of recent matches and the recent controversies surrounding the Osimhen case, climbing up the standings and closing in on Inter, the league leaders.
Rudi Garcia expresses great satisfaction at the end of the match and maintains his leadership: “Don’t worry about me; I have some experience and broad shoulders,” he tells Dazn. “We played well, and I’m happy for the players. The team managed the game well, had many chances.”
“I think, for example, of Kvaratskhelia, who was excellent throughout and scored after hitting the post twice. The negative aspect is that we conceded a goal, which we didn’t need, even though it was a beautiful goal by Samardzic.”
OSIMHEN
It’s inevitable to address the Osimhen topic: “I congratulated him,” the coach explained. “I have an excellent relationship with Victor since I arrived, and I’m happy because he scored tonight, a striker wants to score always. He’s also been unlucky with hitting the post and crossbar in recent matches, but he remained calm and focused on the game.”
“He even provided an assist because he was the one supposed to take the penalty, but he left it to Zielinski, and he did well. They set the clock right. After the Bologna match, we were all frustrated and angry for not winning, and he was even more upset for missing the penalty.”
“We didn’t try to hurt him with the video on social media. The reactions after that were instinctive and understandable. He removed all the Napoli pictures on social media? He’ll do what he wants there, but I can assure you that he loves the shirt.”
Kvaratskhelia
One of the shining stars of the evening was Kvaratskhelia: “Now that he has scored, he will be much lighter and won’t think about it anymore,” Garcia added. “We talked for a long time, and I advised him not to dwell on it (not scoring for a long time), and just enjoy playing football. He’s a unique player; there are few who can dribble past opponents like him, and we encourage him to do it.”
COACHING
Finally, a remark on how times have changed for coaches: “I’ve been a coach for almost 30 years,” he concludes. “Before, coaching on the field was 80%, and off-field matters were 20%. For quite some time now, it’s all changed: 80% to manage everything off the field and 20% on the field. It’s part of the job; if you don’t like it, do something else.”
