Napoli coach Rudi Garcia hopes victory over Udinese eases tension around the club.
Victor Osimhen scored in the 4-1 win 24 hours after his agent threatened to sue the club after a mocking video appeared on Napoli’s social media channels.
“Don’t you worry about me, I have some experience, I’ve got broad shoulders, I’ll be fine,” smiled Garcia on DAZN.
“I am happy for the lads, we really enjoyed seeing this Napoli side control the game, create many chances and push harder to turn good fortune our way. For example, Kvara hit the woodwork twice, but he got the goal eventually. He was fantastic tonight, as he also earned a penalty, provided an assist, but the important thing is that he scored after all that and it means a lot about his mentality.
“Now that he has scored, I think it will take a big weight off his shoulders. I had spoken to him for a long time, told him not to think about it too much, to just enjoy his football. There are few players who can take men on the way he can, we encourage him to do that and when he plays with joy, everything is fine.
“The only negative aspect of the evening is that we conceded a goal, even if it was a great goal from Samardzic. We won at home, but importantly won the way we wanted to win.”
On Osimhen, Garcia said: “I complimented him, which is different. I have had a very good rapport with Victor since the moment I arrived. I am happy because he scored a goal and centre-forwards always want to score goals. He too was unlucky hitting the crossbar and upright in the last few games, but I told him to stay focused on the game.
“Technically, he provided an assist today, because I had named him as the penalty taker this evening. I do not take someone off penalty duties if they make a mistake, but he decided to give that assist to Zielinski.”
On the media firestorm, Garcia added: “I have been a coach for almost 30 years and at the start, you had to spend 80 per cent of the time working on the pitch, then 20 per cent on dealing with extra-sporting situations, what is around the players, the directors, the media. For a while now, it has been about 80 per cent that stuff and 20 per cent work on the pitch.
“This is part of the job nowadays, if you don’t like it, then you have to do something else for a living.”
