Mertens opens up on Napoli’s UCL exit

Dries Mertens acknowledged that Napoli are going through a bad patch after they were knocked out of the Uefa Champions League (UCL) following a 2-1 defeat to Feyenoord last Wednesday.
The result left Maurizio Sarri’s men in third place in Group F, behind winners Manchester City and runners-up Shakhtar Donetsk, who both progress to the knockout stages.
Napoli, meanwhile, will now drop into the Europa League and Mertens says the team need to improve, having also lost to Juventus in Serie A on Friday.
“We are in a difficult period and we didn’t manage to play our usual football,” he told reporters.
“During every season you have to face a spell like this, but we want to return to our usual standard as quickly as possible.
“It was not easy after hearing the score from the other game, but we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and try to understand how to start playing our best football again.
“We are a solid group and I’m sure we will do it.”
Marek Hamsik echoed his team-mate’s comments and said it was a tough defeat to take, with Napoli having gone ahead after just two minutes courtesy of Piotr Zielinski’s goal before an equaliser from Nicolai Jorgensen.
Feyenoord were then reduced to 10 men late on when Tonny Vilhena was sent off but still managed to sneak the win thanks to Jeremiah St. Juste’s stoppage-time header.