Hamsik: Napoli can challenge Juventus

Marek Hamsik is of the opinion that Napoli has what it takes to challenge Juventus for the Scudetto in the new campaign.

The Partenopei had to settle for fifth spot in the table last term, 23 points behind the Serie A champions, but the attacker is confident that they'll do better in 2012-13.

"We have shown over the past five years that we've grown and made progress. We have to continue this path. There are many teams that can challenge Juventus and Napoli are one of them," Hamsik was quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We are obviously not the only team capable of challenging them. We also have to count on AC Milan, Inter, Roma and Lazio. Milan obviously lose a lot of quality without Thiago Silva and Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], but they always have a strong team."

Napoli will start the 2012-13 campaign with the Supercoppa Italiana clash versus Juventus.