As Scott McTominay hobbled off the field during Napoli's insanely dramatic 3-2 win at Genoa on Saturday, an utterly bewildered Antonio Conte turned to his coaching staff and quipped, "I'll have to play in a minute!"
The Partenopei's injury crisis might not be that bad just yet, but the situation is certainly serious. The reigning Italian champions went into the game in Liguria without the services of Giovanni Di Lorenzo, David Neres, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa and Billy Gilmour, while Matteo Politano and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic were only fit enough for a seat on the bench.
The last thing Conte needed, then, was more injuries - and particularly to the talismanic McTominay, who scored Napoli's second goal, and key defender Alessandro Buongiorno, who was forced off just before the hour mark.
Still, while Conte is far from happy with the strength of his squad, he has nothing but admiration for his players, who managed to eke out a 3-2 win at the Luigi Ferraris thanks to Rasmus Hojlund's 95th-minute penalty - despite playing the last quarter of an hour with just 10 men following Juan Jesus' dismissal for a second booking.
"We never stopped pushing and trying to get the win," the Napoli coach told DAZN. "This shows the team never gives in.
"Every Sunday seems to bring a new obstacle, I was curious to see how the team would react without Di Lorenzo, who is such an important figure for his quality and charisma. But I saw a strong response from everyone. These are lads who are overcoming everything with pure heart."