Koulibaly: Napoli lost to Spartak Moscow because ‘our minds were on Fiorentina’

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has revealed why the Serie A leaders lost 3-2 against Spartak Moscow in a Europa League fixture on Thursday.

It was the Partenopei who took the lead with only a minute played when Eljif Elmas scored from close range, but a red card to Mario Rui changed the game in favour of the visitors, who scored through Quincy Promes in 55th while Mikhail Ignatov made it 2-1 in the 80th minute.

Maximiliano Caufriez then made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute and despite red-hot Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen pulling a goal back on the stroke of full-time, it was not enough to help Napoli get something from the game as they lost 3-2 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

The 30-year-old Senegal captain has blamed the team’s first defeat of the season on a lack of concentration, insisting most of the players in the squad were already thinking on their next Serie A game against Fiorentina on Sunday.

“It was a tense finale because their assistant manager was winding us up during the break,” Koulibaly told Sky Sport Italia as quoted by Football Italia.

“I don’t want to look for any excuses, we could’ve done much better. We lost this match and have much to learn. It takes a lot of work to win every single fixture.

“There’s disappointment and regret, but we need to take it one game at a time. I think we were already thinking about Sunday’s game with Fiorentina and that was a mistake. If we play with our minds elsewhere, we’re going to struggle.

“This match taught me a great deal, on a personal level too. The coach was very disappointed; he told us before the game how we should approach it. From tomorrow [Friday], we must find the right focus for a difficult test against Fiorentina.”

Though they lost the game, Osimhen scored his seventh goal of the season in all competitions, and all of them have come in his last five outings for Luciano Spalletti’s team in September.

The Super Eagle was introduced at the start of the second half for Andrea Petagna and he scored his goal in the fourth minute of added time.

The goal was his third in the competition, having scored a double during the team’s comeback 2-2 draw against Leicester City in their first match at King Power Stadium.