Napoli Gets Beaten By Spartak Moscow Because Many Players Were Injured, Koulibaly: That's No Excuse

Kalidou Koulibaly (Twitter @@ kkoulibaly26)

JAKARTA - Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly admits he and his teammates did not do enough and did not want to find excuses during their 1-2 defeat against Spartak Moscow in the Europa League Group C continued at the Otkritie Arena, Russia, Wednesday local time.

In the pouring rain that hit the Otkritie Arena, Napoli appeared without a number of key pillars including captain Lorenzo Insigne, defensive midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, and their main goal machine Victor Osimhen.

⏱ 90+5 | Full time ⏹#SpartakNapoli 2-1#UEL

💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/a9bYVgXEwA

— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) November 24, 2021

Osimhen suffered a fractured jaw in the Serie A match against Inter Milan last weekend and will be out until February next year.

Meanwhile, Insigne and Anguissa were also victims of the same match. Insigne has a knee problem and Anguissa has an abductor muscle tear.

In addition, two wingers Matteo Politano and Adam Ounas have been sidelined even earlier, respectively due to exposure to COVID-19 and muscle problems.

Despite the absence of many players, Napoli was actually able to control almost 70 percent of ball control, unfortunately, their attacks were less lethal.

"Yes, we lost a lot of players and yes, we are not used to this weather, but that's no excuse," Koulibaly said after the match.

"We came here to win and didn't do enough to make it happen."

"Now we have to win the last game of this group to still qualify," concluded the defender from Senegal.

The defeat against Spartak saw Napoli evicted from the top of the Group C standings by their opponent, who has a head-to-head advantage despite both collecting seven points.

Napoli's position could be further down due to another Group C match between Leicester City (5) against Legia Warszawa (6) on Friday morning.

In the final match, Napoli will host Leicester at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on December 10.