Maggio upset at Lecce loss

Napoli winger Christian Maggio has rued his side’s 2-1 loss to Lecce at Stadio Via del Mare on Sunday.

Daniele Corvia put Lecce ahead four minutes after the break from the penalty spot, but Napoli hit back through Guiseppe Mascara on 67 minutes.

A Javier Chevanton goal two minutes from the end settled things in Lecce’s favour in a fiery affair, in which both sides had a man sent off by referee Paolo Valeri.

A win at Lecce, who are just two points outside the relegation zone, would have made sure of third place – and automatic Champions League qualification – for Walter Mazzarri’s side.

Now, however, they are just six points clear of fourth-placed Udinese and face difficult matches against Inter Milan and Juventus to close the season.

Udinese play Chievo Verona and new champions AC Milan in their final two matches, and would take third over Napoli should both teams finish level on points because of a superior head-to-head record.

To make matters worse, Napoli will be without top scorer Edinson Cavani – with 26 league goals this season – for the Inter game after he was sent off against Lecce, and Maggio said the team was disappointed not to beat the strugglers.

“That was definitely not the Napoli team we’ve seen in recent games, we certainly wanted to win in order to secure the third position but today it didn’t happen,” Maggio said.

“Now we only need to look ahead and think about next Sunday (against Inter).”

“We thought we would cause them more problems and we knew Lecce needed a victory to remain in Serie A next year so it was a very important game for them too.”

“In some parts of the game we were playing well and we had some good opportunities, but today we didn’t have much luck.”