Mazzarri upset over poor refereeing

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri has slammed referee Felix Brych after the 4-1 loss to Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Despite previously having no qualms with the result, which dumped the Italians out of the competition, the 50-year-old changed his tune in a later interview.

In the interview, he criticised UEFA for failing to stamp out deliberate Chelsea fouls, denying his team a deserved win.

“In terms of the performance the team did well, and from the point of view of the game we played better than Chelsea,” Mazzarri told Corriere dello Sport.

“There were 12 fouls against one. UEFA should protect the game better, you expect the referee to punish tactical fouls, but I do not want to talk about the referees. It is a general idea that I have often expressed.”

However, Mazzarri is confident his players’ heads will not stay down for long, and believes they now have even more motivation to achieve another top-three place in the Serie A for a second successive season.

“We’re not very far away from third place, we have eleven finals to be played,” he said.

“These players will give everything, they are a proud bunch.”

“This is an important year regardless of how it ends. We will not give up. This disappointment will be turned into a positive. We need to grow up, although we have missed out on something extraordinary.”

Napoli travel to Udinese on Sunday. Both teams are locked on 46 points, two behind third-placed Lazio.