Rafa Marín calls Lazio game a final after his Porto red card

The Spanish defender gave away the penalty and was sent off in the 4-1 defeat at the Dragão. On Sunday 8 November he is one of the few centre-backs Napoli have left.

by Gennaro SanninoFriday 6 November, 14:09 CET· 52 min ago

Marín con la maglia del SSC Napoli — Foto: football-italia.net

Rafa Marín has spoken out the day after his worst night in a Napoli shirt. On Thursday 5 November, a few hours after the team landed in Salerno, he wrote on Instagram: "Sunday is a final for us. We know exactly where we are and we cannot run away from our responsibilities." He added: "We have lost two important games and we are fully aware of it. Now is the time to get back up."

At the Dragão, Porto's stadium, he conceded a penalty in the 89th minute and was sent off. Both decisions were correct, and Aghehowa scored from the spot to make it 4-1. Marín is right to front up, but we have heard this before. On the eve of the Porto game Politano spoke of "the same mistakes", and from the 71st minute the team fell apart, just as they had in Turin. That is seven defeats in 14 competitive games. Words like these need results behind them.

Gattuso's Lazio come to the Maradona on Sunday 8 November at 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET). They top the table with 28 points, twice Napoli's total. Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno, Badiashile, Spinazzola, Olivera and Favasuli are all out, and Marianucci is suspended. That leaves Rrahmani, Beukema and Rafa Marín himself at centre-back. The squad is due to go into a pre-match training camp in Pozzuoli from 19:00 on Friday 6 November. This time the answer has to come on the pitch.