Planet Swans ArchivesThe Swans captain was straight over to the away support as the final whistle blew and he sat and slumped on the ground knowing that we were the better team over the two legs but it just wasn’t enough on this occasion.
As the shouts rung out for the Captain of Wales, Williams face summed up the feelings of all of us in the Stadio San Paolo that the team had done us proud and although this was an exit from Europe it was one with our heads held high and one that could have so easily been extended into March.
Having spurned so many chances last week at the Liberty we had our chances last night to add to De Guzman’s first half strike but they were not to be on this occasion as Napoli scored two late goals to progress in the competition to the last 16 stage.
And Garry Monk, just six games into his managerial career spoke after the game of his pride of the team that he took charge of a little over three weeks ago.
180 minutes against a very good side, we pushed them all the way and created many chances – we had enough chances to win five games.
“If it was a number of other goalkeepers in the world, we could have had a few goals.
“Tonight we performed well in a difficult place, and we had enough chances that if we took, it wouldn’t have mattered if Napoli took theirs.”
Wilfried Bony missed a glorious chance to grab his 20th goal of the season and probably the most decisive of those when his header went straight at Pepe Reina in the Napoli goal as once more the Swans were frustrated to have created so much but only had the one goal in two games to show for it.
“We came here to win the game with the belief that we can get a result, and the boys deserve massive credit for that.
“At the start, no one gave us a chance – people thought they would wipe the floor with us – but I think we have quite clearly shown that that wasn’t the case.
“The boys should be really proud of themselves and take the belief from this game to our league.”
Monk’s next challenge is one to lift his players back up for the visit of Crystal Palace on Sunday and ensure that Premier League survival is the next target.
