An early Eljif Elmas header from a corner proved the winner for the visitors.
“I think we proved tonight that we are not tired. We can play with more quality, certainly, but in terms of aggression, physicality and determination, I saw this as one of our best performances of the season," Pioli told DAZN.
“We won back the ball repeatedly, I liked the intensity and hunger of the team. We made a few misplaced passes, lost the ball cheaply too, but I did not see a fitness issue.
“Look, it would be easier for me to say we used up a lot of energy in the campaign and had so many injuries, so we are tired, but I absolutely don't believe that.
“I think it was one of our best performances in terms of aggression, intensity and focus. We defended almost entirely in the Napoli half, we played hard and absolutely did not deserve to lose this game.
“The regret is that early goal we conceded, as we should've done better on the positioning, but the rest of the performance was very good.
“We used up a lot of energy like all the teams in Europe, but I did not see a team that was tired physically or mentally. We ran very few risks against a side that is very strong.
“You need the individual moment of quality in the final third and we didn't have that tonight, other than a few times Messias went one-on-one with their defenders."
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