Olivera: Napoli's clash with Bologna is 'a final'

Three straight defeats, the 0-1 loss to Arsenal still fresh, and Mathías Olivera chose an interview with TNT Mexico to look ahead to the next game rather than dwell on the last one. He was blunt about the Champions League night: "We fought against a really strong team. It's a shame we conceded in the final minutes - it proved fatal for the result."

Capisco perfettamente la delusione dei tifosi: è ovvio, arriviamo da tre sconfitte consecutive ed è naturale che la gente sia delusa. Ma sono sicuro che sapremo invertire la rotta. Domenica ci aspetta una vera e propria finale con il Bologna

"I completely understand the supporters' disappointment - it's obvious, we've come off three straight defeats and it's natural that people are frustrated. But I'm sure we'll turn things around. Sunday is a real final for us against Bologna," Olivera said, adding: "Go as far as possible. We'll always fight for it, in every competition we play this season."

Napoli sit 12th with 3 points from 3 games, six behind Roma, Inter and Lazio, who share the top spot on 9. Their league record reads a win at Genoa, a home defeat to Como and a loss at San Siro against Inter; the 0-1 Champions League defeat to Arsenal, a separate competition, doesn't affect those numbers but weighs on the mood - Allegri himself called it, after the game, a "third straight defeat".

The left-back battle

Olivera's words come from a player who doesn't currently have a starting shirt locked down: against Arsenal, Allegri preferred Leonardo Spinazzola on the left flank. Not a small detail for someone publicly promising a change of course.

On his future, Olivera left no room for reading between the lines: "I'm happy at Napoli, I'm trying to enjoy this experience. My head is here, and on the next game, which we have to win to turn this start of the season around." It was his way of closing the door, without naming them, on speculation that had already touched on Napoli's transfer business in recent days.

It's the same message Di Lorenzo gave after Arsenal: a decent performance, but points are what's needed now. The difference is that this time it comes from a player who didn't even start against the Gunners - the words carry less weight when the man saying them isn't sure of playing on Sunday. Three straight defeats don't disappear because of an interview with a Mexican broadcaster.

The countdown to the final Olivera describes has already begun: on Sunday 13 September at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET), Bologna arrive at the Maradona without Domenico Tedesco on the bench, suspended for two matches after his sending-off in the 2-2 draw with Sassuolo. Olivera's words remain just words until kickoff.