Kosta Runjaic admitted that Napoli were the better side on the day after Udinese slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Bluenergy Stadium.
“We were playing one of the title favourites. We did well to take the lead but we must say that Napoli played really well and deserved to win. We played with a lot of intensity in the first half. We must keep working and move on to the next game.
“Eight of their starting 11 were the team who won the Scudetto so they're experienced players. We knew that with so many absentees we couldn't match their options from the bench. [Arthur] Atta is young but he did really well and got some experience playing against one of the best teams.”
“Once we conceded the equaliser in the second half we weren't able to fight back. We made a few mistakes and weren't able to threaten as we did in the opening 45 minutes.
“It's a shame we lost [Sandi] Lovric. We'll find out more on Monday. Injuries happen unfortunately.
“It was a difficult game for [Lorenzo] Lucca but he battled away and did well. I was happy with the attitude he showed.
“[Alexis] Sanchez has spent three months on the sidelines and hasn't had a proper pre-season so we need to be careful with him. Just having him on the bench today was fantastic but this wasn't the right game to risk him. We'll see when he'll be ready to start a match.”