Mazzarri denies Napoli crisis

Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri has hit out at suggestions his club are in crisis after a poor recent run in the Serie A.

After winning just one of their last seven league outings, Napoli have slipped to sixth on the table having looked like title contenders earlier in the campaign.

But they have progressed to the round of 16 in the Champions League, setting up an encounter against English Premier League giants Chelsea.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s league clash at home to Genoa, Mazzarri was unhappy with suggestions his club were in disarray.

“You cannot talk of a crisis after a draw and a defeat. First, there was a major victory in the Champions League over Villarreal and another in the league over Lecce. Against Roma, as it is known to (their coach) Luis Enrique, we could also have won,” he said on Tuesday.

“The game against Roma was particularly decided by bad luck. I cannot point the finger at my players for certain situations.”

“Conceding such goals as we did against the Giallorossi (Roma) can happen, against certain champions. On other occasions we have done better. Now is a time when things are not going well.”

Mazzarri also rued several contentious refereeing decisions that had gone against his team, and he was hopeful they would even out by season’s end.

“I do not want to talk about referees. However, when I talk about bad luck – that also involves their decisions, always made in good faith, which can affect the result,” he said.

“Right now, the officials’ decisions have counted against us, we hope we will be compensated by the end of the championship. At the moment it is running awry.”