Benitez confident of Napoli improvement

Rafael Benitez believes his Napoli side can continue to improve next season following the Spaniard’s impressive debut campaign.

The former Liverpool and Inter coach has guided the Naples outfit to a third-placed finish in Serie A and also lifted the Coppa Italia when they beat Fiorentina on Saturday.

Napoli could also consider themselves unfortunate to be knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, having amassed 12 points from their Group F campaign but finished third behind Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal.

Following their 3-0 win over 10-man Cagliari on Tuesday, Benitez is in no doubt Napoli can kick on next season.

“I think you could even change the formation, for example (play) with a midfield of three players,” he said.

“But in this first year of the project I wanted to give precise tactical guidance – the team had a clear objective to achieve.

“In the future, having more experience and strength, we will have full ability to change the game plan as needed.

“But again, these results demonstrate that we are working well and we are on the right track.”

Dries Mertens, Goran Pandev and Blerim Dzemaili were on target for Napoli in a comfortable win on Tuesday.

Despite failing to keep pace with top two Juventus and Roma this term, Benitez reiterated his pleasure with the progress his side are making.

“Winning against Cagliari and doing it this way by clearly dominating the match, together with the victory in the final of the Coppa Italia, are indicative to us that we are on the right track,” he added.

“We are going in the right direction as I have said previously on other occasions.”