Napoli vs Livorno preview - Rafa focused on Livorno
Posted Saturday, October 05, 2013 by PA
Napoli head coach Rafael Benitez wants his players to forget their Champions League defeat at Arsenal and focus on Sunday's game against Livorno.
The Azzurri, who had beaten Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in their Group F opener, fell to a first loss of the campaign at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
Goals from Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud inside 15 minutes condemned the Italians to a 2-0 defeat.
"We started very badly," Benitez told sscnapoli.it. "They scored two goals and everything changed.
"We tried but it's tough to come back from 2-0 down against Arsenal in the Champions League.
"But we knew it was possible to lose in London and now we have to continue to work hard because the road is long and everything is still wide open in the Champions League.
"We must now focus on the domestic front and bounce back immediately."
Napoli are unbeaten in Serie A and sit second in the standings, level on 16 points with Juventus and just two points behind leaders Roma.
A win on Sunday could see the Azzurri return to the summit ahead of the international break, provided results elsewhere go their way.
Roma travel to San Siro to face Inter Milan this weekend while Juve host AC Milan.
Napoli have reason to be optimistic after taking seven points from the nine available at the Stadio San Paolo this season.
Moreover, they welcome back Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, who missed Tuesday's game with a calf injury.
Livorno, meanwhile, will be bolstered by the return of influential midfielder Marco Biagianti.
The former Catania man missed his team's last two league games - a 1-1 draw against Cagliari and a 2-1 defeat at Verona - with a thigh injury.
The Tuscan outfit go to Naples looking for their third win of the campaign.
Coach Davide Nicola's men have lost just once on the road this term and sit eighth in the standings with eight points from six games.
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