Napoli assistant head coach Cristian Stellini believes their comfortable win over Fiorentina in Serie A was an "important" one as they contend with a number of injury issues.

Antonio Conte's side strolled to a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from David Neres, Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay, opening up a three-point lead over Atalanta, who have a game in hand due to their involvement in the Supercoppa Italiana.

Napoli have now won four away games in a row in Serie A under a single coach for the first time since January-April 2023 (a run of eight), while they have kept a clean sheet in six of their first 10 league away games of a season for the first time since 1988-89. 

Stellini, who attended the post-match press conference in place of Conte, explained why the win was vital, given they were without Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano and Alessandro Buongiorno through injury.

"It is fair to call it very important, for various reasons," he told a press conference. "The first is that we were on a difficult pitch against a strong team with a very large squad.

"And then the second is that we had some absentees and wanted to show the importance of our work and how much the guys follow us. That is even more important."

Those injuries gave Leonardo Spinazzola a rare start this season, a player linked with a move away from Napoli in the January transfer window.

"We have a lot of players and without too many games it's not easy to rotate everyone," Stellini said.

"Precisely, for this reason, we have to congratulate guys like him, Juan Jesus, Giacomo Raspadori and Rafael Marin. They work to improve both themselves and the squad."

Conte did not attend the press conference or do any media duties following the match, with Stellini explaining his decision.

"We are very happy for the win, but this afternoon we received a terrible blow," Stellini told DAZN. "We lost a person very dear to us, very close to all of Napoli, a child who was sick and to whom we tried to give moments of joy and who gave us a lot of strength in return.

"The manager was not up to coming to speak about the game. Our thoughts go to the little fan, his family and to all the children who suffer with serious illnesses from which they cannot recover. The message is for them. We say farewell to little Daniele."