Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti was pleased after their 1-1 draw at Barcelona.

Piotr Zielinski gave the visitors the lead before Ferran Torres from the penalty spot earned Barcelona a first-leg draw in their Europa League playoff.

“We tried to keep it tight in the second half, but we ended up going too deep, and that is a problem when you do it against Barcelona,” confessed Spalletti on Sky Italia.

“That was something we should not have done, although there is no doubting the quality of our opposition. There are these moments during a game where we don’t seem to be able to organise a high press, we pass it backwards and allow the other team to push up.

“These are areas where we really need to improve in future.

“I think in the first half we proved that we could play on level terms with Barcelona. They controlled the initiative after the break, but these are things that can be fixed. We can repeat the first half performance for an entire match.

“I do see this performance as an improvement, if we can only carry on certain moves and approaches for the whole game. It was the choice of defending deeper that cost us, because that was a choice. When we attacked Barcelona, we caused them a lot of problems.”

Need a VPN? Or seeking to switch? Then support Tribal Football by clicking here to sign up with our official partners NordVPN. Not only will you receive the best VPN experience, but also great discounts by signing up via Tribal Football. Thanks for your support!