Napoli coach Rafa Benitez says he never lost faith during last night's hard-fought win against Udinese in the Italian Cup.
With Udinese opting to defend and attack on the counter, the Partenopei needed to dig deep to get out with a positive result as they move on to the face Internazionale in the next round of the competition.
Napoli's penalty shootout win comes exactly a month after they lifted the Italian Super Cup in Doha after beating Juventus in another epic penalty shootout.
"Winning was important, we did it and we deservedly move on," Benitez said.
"We could have immediately taken the lead with [Dries] Mertens' penalty but we were not lucky there and we gave confidence to our opposition.
"The match then took a strange twist but I never lost the faith, even during extra time because we were in control.
"Today's game was also important to analyse players who don't play very often and I must say they all answered the call, which, for the future, is a very positive thing."
Referee Daniele Orsato took what looked to be a soft decision in the second half when Duvan Zapata went down in the penalty area, giving Napoli a second penalty.
But the Spaniard opted not to comment on the referee's decision.
"I don't talk about referees," Benitez explained.
"In one-and-a-half years I only spoke about them after the Juventus game, understandably I would say."
