Lazio coach Stefano Pioli hailed his players after they secured third spot and a place in next season’s Champions League preliminary round.

Lazio won 4-2 at Napoli in Sunday’s season finale to edge the Naples outfit into the vital third position.

“I want to compliment my players,” Pioli said to the Italian press.

“From the first day in which we started to train, they believed in the work we were doing. At the beginning we were the only ones that believed in ourselves but we gradually convinced everyone else.

“I always said my team was special. We deserve to finish third even though we made life very difficult for ourselves.”

Lazio needed just a point at Napoli from their final game to hold on to third place and took a 2-0 half-time lead.

However, Napoli hit back with two goals from Gonzalo Higuain and almost went in front had the Argentinian striker not missed a penalty.

Lazio substitutes Ogenyi Onazi and Miroslav Klose then scored late in the game to seal the win.

“Before Higuain took the penalty I knew my team could do it,” Pioli said.

“Napoli had a great opportunity, but there was still time for us to draw level even if he had scored.”

Lazio have not played in the Champions League group stages since the 2007-08 campaign.

“We are only at the beginning,” Pioli said.

“This year we laid the foundations for something important in the future. We are delighted but we know that before we hear the famous Champions League song, we have to go through the preliminary round.

“We’ve already started to talk about the transfer strategy and made a few suggestions. The club shares my ideas. We want to improve the squad, as next season will be a challenging one.

“But Lazio need to continue to grow and be as ambitious and humble as we were this season.”