Furious Scott McTominay calls out Napoli team-mates after 'unacceptable' draw with 10-man Copenhagen that leaves Serie A holders in danger of Champions League elimination

McTominay did not hold back in his assessment of Napoli’s 1-1 draw against Copenhagen on Tuesday night, labelling the result "unacceptable." The Italian champions were handed a golden opportunity to secure vital points when Thomas Delaney was sent off for the hosts early on. McTominay capitalised immediately, firing Napoli into a 1-0 lead less than four minutes later.

However, the Partenopei failed to kill the game off and were punished by a second-half equaliser from Jordan Larsson. The draw leaves Napoli languishing in 23rd place in the league phase table, dangerously close to elimination with just one game remaining. "We should have won that game, it’s unacceptable," a visibly angry McTominay told Sky Sport. "We should have scored the second and third goals to close out the game... It’s really disappointing that we didn’t."

The result is compounded by a severe injury crisis that has stripped the squad of its biggest stars. Napoli were without Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Amir Rrahmani and David Neres in Denmark. While acknowledging the crisis, McTominay refused to use it as a crutch. "We’ve had a lot of injuries, it’s rare, but we’ve still tried to improve game by game," he noted.

The stakes could not be higher for their final league phase fixture, where they face a daunting test against Chelsea. It is now a do-or-die scenario to reach the play-off rounds. "Chelsea are an excellent team," McTominay added. "We have to try and give everything to improve in the Champions League as well."

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Napoli coach Conte was even more scathing than his midfielder, questioning whether his squad is currently good enough for Europe’s elite competition. "I think there must be disappointment because it was a match that had been put in the best conditions to be won," Conte told Sky Sport. "We could have a thousand excuses but today they are not good enough... We have demonstrated – for the fourth consecutive time – that we struggle especially away from home in the Champions League."

He continued: "There is disappointment because we didn't manage to do this, it means that the level at this moment is perhaps not for this competition... we only have eight points. Today we have to make a huge mea culpa, everyone. These are games you have to bring home, full stop. We had an important opportunity... Instead we made it an uphill battle for ourselves."

The draw means Napoli have made life incredibly difficult for themselves. Conte admitted they had wasted a perfect situation. "We look, as always, to do our best with the players we have available," the coach said regarding the upcoming fixtures. "Today we could have done much better... We had everything and we managed to ruin it for ourselves, this must make us reflect. Beyond the objective difficulties that were there today, the match had to be brought home. Period."