Antonio Conte rages at packed fixture schedule after Napoli crash out of Champions League to former club Chelsea

A furious Conte took aim at the authorities responsible for the fixture calendar following Napoli's heartbreaking exit from the Champions League. The Italian manager, whose squad was decimated by the absence of 13 first-team players for the crucial tie, could not hide his anger at the physical demands being placed on his depleted team.

Speaking after the defeat to Chelsea, Conte sarcastically asked to meet the "genius" who decided Napoli should play three high-intensity matches in just seven days. "I have energy, we have to play in two and a half days," Conte raged. "It's hard to understand who makes the schedules and puts three games in seven days. I'd like to know who the genius is who makes the schedules. We play on Sunday, then now at 9pm, and then Saturday at 6pm."

The former Chelsea boss argued that the authorities pay lip service to player welfare while ignoring the reality of the situation. "Then they talk about injuries and many other things, but then they totally don't give a damn," he added.

Despite the lengthy absentee list, Napoli started brightly against Liam Rosenior’s side. The hosts, featuring a spine of former Premier League talent including Scott McTominay, Rasmus Hojlund and Romelu Lukaku, fought bravely to keep their qualification hopes alive. After Enzo Fernandez had given the visitors an early lead from the penalty spot, Napoli roared back.

Youngster Antonio Vergara netted his first goal for the club before former Manchester United striker Hojlund fired them into a 2-1 lead at the break. For a brief period, it looked as though Conte would get one over on his old employers. However, the second half belonged to the Londoners. Joao Pedro proved to be the match-winner, scoring a brace to secure a 3-2 victory that propelled Chelsea directly into the last-16 and condemned Napoli to elimination.

Conte, however, refused to criticise his players, instead praising their resilience against a top-tier European opponent. "Each of us is trying to do our best, playing without 13 players, many of them key, and holding our own against Chelsea in a European level match is the most important thing," he insisted.

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While the defeat to Chelsea was the final nail in the coffin, Conte pinpointed last week's failure in Denmark as the true moment their European campaign unravelled. Napoli could only manage a 1-1 draw against FC Copenhagen, despite the Danish side playing with 10 men and Napoli holding a 1-0 lead.

"The biggest mistake was definitely the one in Copenhagen," Conte admitted. "It should be a game everyone will regret, we all agree. You can't be a man and a goal up and then concede a penalty and equalise, otherwise we would have already qualified for the play-offs and it would have been less important."

He viewed the Chelsea match as a free hit given the circumstances, whereas the points dropped in Copenhagen were inexcusable errors of game management. That result left them vulnerable on the final day, needing a result against one of the Premier League's form sides while battling an unprecedented injury crisis.

The early exit extends Conte's curiously underwhelming record in Europe's elite competition. Despite his glittered career in domestic football, he has struggled to translate that dominance to the Champions League stage.

In seven seasons managing in the competition, Conte has now failed to reach the knockout stages on four occasions. His best run remains a quarter-final appearance achieved in his debut season with Juventus over a decade ago. This latest failure sees Napoli finish a lowly 30th in the new 36-team league phase, a stark decline for a club currently holding the Italian title. Their domestic campaign has not been a smooth one as they trail Serie A leaders Inter by nine points after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Juventus last week.

Nevertheless, the manager remains defiant about the work being done at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. "The level we showed despite being in a poor position shows that what Napoli are doing isn't the result of chance but of careful work, which needs to continue," he concluded. "Perhaps with a bit of good luck, because I don't think there's a team in the world that's doing as well as we are [under these conditions]."