Allegri: ‘Napoli have limitations, these mistakes cost you matches’

PORTO, PORTUGAL - NOVEMBER 04: Massimiliano Allegri, Manager of SSC Napoli, reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2026/27 League Phase MD4 match between FC Porto and SSC Napoli at Estadio do Dragao on November 04, 2026 in Porto, Portugal. (Photo by Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images)

Max Allegri admits Napoli have ‘limitations’ after a 4-1 defeat to FC Porto, as their Champions League campaign hangs by a thread. ‘These are the mistakes that cost you matches.’

The Partenopei were truly decimated going into the Estadio do Dragao, as they were missing 10 players between injuries and ineligibility, leaving only three senior outfield figures on the bench.

In the circumstances, they still got to half-time with the score at 1-1, Scott McTominay cancelling out the free header from Jan Bednarek.

However, they crumbled in the final 20 minutes with a Gabriel Veiga counter-attack, identical Jakub Kiwior header on a corner, and Samu’s penalty after a Rafa Marin red card offence.

Allegri sees Napoli running on empty

“We made mistakes on two set plays, the team had in my view a good performance up to the 70^th minute,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

“It was an aggressive performance, we went man for man, but then conceded this second goal on a bouncing ball and with fatigue we didn’t push up in time for the offside.

“These are errors that unfortunately can happen when you are tired. The tempo is high in the Champions League, and in those final minutes we were struggling, as they hit the crossbar twice just before the goal and were cutting through us fairly easily.”

Allegri is now under serious pressure after a series of defeats in big games, and they lost three of the first four Champions League fixtures, so can he turn this around?

“We have a game on Sunday against Lazio and need to recuperate, because these are the only players we’ve got,” he replied.

“You win and lose matches on details, not the big things, but the small ones. The team fought and chased Porto around man for man as long as they could, but then we ran out of fuel.

“It’s like a Cup Final for us against Lazio and then hopefully we can recover some players during the break for international duty.”

This is going to be an extremely tough campaign for Allegri and Napoli, who are falling behind in Serie A and in Europe.

“I had a similar season at Juventus, I’ve been through this before, the only thing we must do is keep working, fix a few things, have that extra metre and extra bit of concentration in certain moments.

“This evening was a better performance than the one we saw on Sunday in Turin, certainly.”

Due to the vast shortage of players, Allegri changed his system to a 3-5-1-1 with Kevin De Bruyne in support of Rasmus Hojlund upfront, so is this the way forward or is it just an emergency?

“I decided to play this way tonight because it was the only way. It went well for over an hour, but Porto made five substitutions, they had fresh legs, and we didn’t have anyone left to introduce.

“If you want to play this way, aggressive and high press, you need to have fresh legs off the bench. It’s either that or you defend in front of your penalty area, but we struggle to do that, so it was the only way.

“Unfortunately, we conceded the second goal on our own clearance.”

Porto lead once again against Napoli 👏 Gabriel Veiga with a smooth finish 🎯 📺 Stream now on TNT Sports & HBO Max https://t.co/fRCRh6tXYB https://t.co/g6eg4MXtQ8

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 4, 2026

Sky Sport Italia pundit Fabio Capello asked Allegri if there was anyone who could lead the Napoli defence when they were so visibly disorganised.

“You are perfectly right, but if you look at the bounce of the ball, Beukema just pushed up straight, but when the ball is bouncing around, then he has to mark the man. It was a distraction, he might’ve been tired, but these are details and it was the same thing in Turin.

“There too, there seemed to be no sign of danger, but then we made a mistake, that time it was Marianucci who turned the wrong way. These are mistakes that make you lose games,” replied the Napoli coach.

Allegri then seemed to suggest this was not just down to the current injury crisis, but rather his lack of faith in the side.

“I know the limitations of this squad. In the first game with Genoa, I was accused of having a bad first half, but it was because we needed to control the tempo. Lately, we’ve had good first halves, but then fall away in the second half, it’s because we have a limited squad.

“If the same lot play every three days, the tempo is high, by the 70^th minute it becomes a different match. You can only control that if you have eight or nine players on the bench. Now we’ve got one more game to play with Lazio, then we’ll see what happens when more return.”