Antonio Conte admits Napoli’s Scudetto dreams are alive but UCL qualification is main goal

MILAN — Ten games into the new season and it is Napoli who are the unexpected league leaders in Serie A. Although the goal since the appointment of Antonio Conte has been to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, the Italian claimed “no one his hiding” when it comes to fighting for the Scudetto.

“Scudetto? No one is hiding. We see realistically what we are doing this year After 10 games, it has something of the incredible and unexpected, not even the craziest would have predicted it. But we remain with our feet on the ground.

“We know what our goal is, which is to return to Europe. But there are five or six teams that have the same idea. Winning in Naples would be something incredible. We have given ourselves three years. We are rebuilding something and it takes time,” said Conte in a press conference.

Napoli registered a comfortable 2-0 win over AC Milan at San Siro on Tuesday evening. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring with just five minutes on the clock and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s accurate right-footed strike all but put the contest to bed towards the end of the first half to clinch a fifth straight league victory for Antonio Conte’s side, who sit top of the table with 25 points from a possible 30.

The Naples based side claimed the Scudetto in 2022/23 season, ending a 33-year long wait for the trophy, and then went on to have one of the worst title defences possible. They finished 10th in the previous season and are now aiming to make “Neapolitan fans proud of this team”.

“We try to feed the dreams of the fans, but we need to have balance. Our fans followed us with passion even today, it is right that they dream. We have to be prepared when there is some setback. We want to make the Neapolitan fans proud of this team,” he added.