MILAN, Italy (Reuters) – Serie A leaders Napoli continued their impressive unbeaten run with a victory at AC Milan on Tuesday and, while manager Antonio Conte can no longer brush off talk of a Scudetto title triumph, a return to European football is still the main objective.
A 2-0 win at San Siro means Napoli have gone nine league games without defeat and has seen them open a seven point lead at the top ahead of Inter Milan who visit Empoli on Wednesday.
After their dismal title defence last season left Napoli without any European action in this campaign, Conte continues to try to balance the expectations at the club.
“Scudetto? No one is hiding. We see realistically what we are doing this year,” he told DAZN.
“After 10 games it has something of the incredible and unexpected, not even the craziest would have predicted it. But we remain with our feet on the ground.
“We know what our goal is, which is to return to Europe. But there are five or six teams that have the same idea. Winning in Naples would be something incredible. We have given ourselves three years. We are rebuilding something and it takes time.”
After such an impressive start, Conte knows it will be hard to stop the Napoli supporters thinking of another title success.
“We try to feed the dreams of the fans, but we need to have balance,” Conte added. “Our fans followed us with passion even today, it is right that they dream. We have to be prepared when there is some setback.
“We want to make the Neapolitan fans proud of this team.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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