Gattuso insists he is unconcerned by rumours he is one game from the SACK

Gennaro Gattuso refused to acknowledge the mounting pressure over his position as Napoli boss after his side were dumped out the Coppa Italia by Atalanta on Wednesday night.

Gattuso's Napoli won the tournament last season - a key achievement in him being handed a three-year deal by maverick charman Aurelio De Laurentiis.

But Napoli were swept aside by Atalanta on Wednesday, who beat Gattuso's men 3-1 to set up a final against Juventus, who Gattuso's men meet next.

Napoli are sixth in Serie A, three points off the top four with a game in hand but recent disappointing results, such as a draw with relegation-threatened Torino or shock defeats to Hellas Verona and Spezia, have prompted murmurs of boardroom unrest.

Napoli even issued a vote of confidence in Gattuso last month and after the Atalanta defeat, it was put to Gattuso that if he loses to Juventus he could be out of a job.

'I don't know, you have to ask the club,' he said in his post-match press conference. 'The captain of the ship is me, when things go badly, they are at the expense of the captain.

'I can't think of this as the penultimate or last resort, I have to work and I have to be able to trust.

'I'm a coach, it's like that. I won't be the first, nor the last, but I have the duty to try until the end.'

Gattuso will take solace from the fact that Juventus - who have won the last nine Serie A titles - are not the runaway leaders that they usually are by this point of the season.

Andrea Pirlo's side are third in the standings and seven points behind leaders Inter Milan, albeit with a game in hand.

Rafa Benitez and Walter Mazzari have been linked with replacing Gattuso if he does leave the club.