Angry Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri complained about the referee, the international calendar, the kick-off time and the Serie A fixture list after yesterday’s 3-1 defeat to Udinese severely dented his team’s title hopes.

“We didn’t move the ball around the way we usually do and that has happened on the other occasions we have played at this time (1230 pm local time),” Sarri told reporters.

“It’s a difficult and unnatural time of the day.”

He was also angry that Napoli invariably had to play their games after Juventus, who have won 20 of their last 21 league matches, which he said meant that they were always trying to catch up.

Juventus played their game on Saturday evening, when they beat Empoli 1-0.

“Ever since we’ve been second, we’ve been playing after Juventus, this is the sixth time out of six, and the anger and frustration came out,” he said. “It is strange that the team that is second in the league has to play at this time.”

Sarri then turned his attention to referee Massimiliano Irrati, who awarded Udinese two first-half penalties, one of which was converted and one of which was missed.

“I just told Irrati that he was refereeing really badly, but you can’t even say that, “ Sarri told reporters of his sending-off.

“I didn’t like the way the referee judged fouls and cards at all. (Gonzalo) Higuain told me he accidentally trod on his opponent and therefore felt he was the victim of an injustice.”