Di Canio: Conte will bring out the best in Lukaku at Napoli - the perfect match

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Lukaku was the star player of the match, scoring crucial goals to secure a victory for his team against Cagliari. As a result of his outstanding performance, he was awarded the man of the match title.

Former Lazio captain Paolo di Canio is convinced Napoli coach Antonio Conte will bring Romelu Lukaku back to his very best.AdvertisementAdvertisement

Di Canio told Sky Italia afterwards: "For Conte he is perfect, to lean on and so on. I observe, I don't watch. I say things, I don't speak. The performance, when you make assists and goals in an empty net, is still assists and goals, but in technical terms it is a 3. I point out that Conte makes him perform. Not much more, he makes him perform.

"In the last 3-4 years, nobody wanted him. Starting with Bayern Munich: they spent 100 million for (Harry) Kane and left him for free. If you want, say they are crazy. With Conte, very good, in this championship. It's very good. Even like this, even if he remains not in top form, he scores 16-17 goals. He scores them, for goodness sake.

"But we have to see what it moves. At Roma he moved zero. The year before sixth, the year with him zero. We have to see this year, he will certainly move, because from tenth position it is not far. But it is one thing to arrive seventh, another higher. There are many factors: not having the cups is useful."

On the Champions League, Di Canio says the workload for coaches will change.

"The new Champions League will shift: the work that coaches and technical staff will take on will be abnormal compared to the past. Before you had to study three teams, now eight. You come from bad games, you have to go and play in Manchester, then you face others: you have to play until the seventh or eighth, these are stresses that coaches must transmit effectively to the players."