Benitez pleased with Napoli resilience

Rafael Benitez hailed the physical resilience of his Napoli squad after they completed a busy spell of fixtures with victory over Catania.

The 4-2 win at Stadio Angelo Massimino represented Napoli’s fourth game in nine days, following clashes with Torino, Porto and Fiorentina.

Despite Sunday’s defeat to Fiorentina, Benitez’s men enjoy a 10-point cushion in third and are sit six points adrift of Roma in second.

Having played a game more than Rudi Garcia’s charges, Napoli face an uphill task to reel the capital club in, but Benitez is confident of making progress once their schedule becomes less hectic.

“The reality is that we are happy because after playing so many commitments close to each other has been very demanding,” the former Liverpool boss said.

“The team was really tired but have shown that they are fully capable of recovering.”

Napoli’s quest to clinch second place continues on Sunday with the daunting visit of Serie A champions and runaway leaders Juventus.

However, the Spaniard called on his squad to keep fighting for points as they seek to finish in the final automatic UEFA Champions League spot.

“Our goal is still trying to reach Roma. It also depends on them and how they are playing in their commitments,” Benitez added.

“They are now ahead of us. But we have to try to do everything possible to end this season in a brilliant way.

“We must trust in our abilities and what might happen, there are still 24 points left to play for in the upcoming games.”