Happy birthday for Mazzarri

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri has hailed his side’s 3-0 win over Inter Milan on Saturday as the perfect 50th birthday present.

Napoli had goals from Hugo Campagnaro, Christian Maggio and Marek Hamsik to thank for the win that sent them two points clear of Juventus and Udinese on top of Serie A, although those sides have a game in hand.

Inter will be ruing the controversial decision to send off Joel Obi for his challenge on Maggio with five minutes to go in the first half.

Not only did the decision leave Inter a man short for over a half, but Campagnaro slotted home the rebound after Julio Cesar had saved Hamsik’s penalty.

On the day he turned 50, Mazzarri said he was not bothered to be the recipient of such good fortune and insisted his side has had their fair share of bad luck as well.

“I thank my players for having given me the greatest birthday gift I could’ve asked for,” Mazzarri said.

“I think we played well and in terms of overall performance we deserved the win tonight.”

“Incidents do happen in football and I said the same last season when we conceded a penalty and then lost against Milan.”

“We were denied a clear penalty against Fiorentina last week, so mistakes happen to everyone over the course of a campaign.”

Despite their good early season form, Mazzarri said it was far too early to be thinking about a Serie A title.

“The team has grown a lot this season and has more character,” he said.

“Playing in the Europa League helped us a lot, while now we are learning even more from facing Barcelona, Manchester City and other top clubs.”

“The squad has had a rapid climb and there are youngsters who have reached maturity like Pocho (Ezequiel) Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, while it’s a pleasure to watch others such as Paolo Cannavaro and Salvatore Aronica.”

“The Scudetto? We’ll take it one game at a time.”