Champions League: Naples fired its coach 48 hours before hosting FC Barcelona

Naples, reigning Italian champion, dismissed its coach Walter Mazzarri on Monday, 48 hours before the reception of FC Barcelona in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, its president told the Sky Sport channel, thus confirming information from the Italian press.

“Walter Mazzarri is a friend of the De Laurentiis family and Napoli. It’s a farewell that hurts, because he made himself very available at a time of great difficulty,” declared Aurelio De Laurentiis, about Mazzarri who took over from Frenchman Rudi Garcia in mid-November.

“But we also had to take our fans into account and give them something more,” he continued.

The film producer confirmed information from the Italian press according to which Napoli, 9th in the Italian Championship, is in advanced negotiations with Francesco Calzona, who served as assistant coach of Napoli between 2015 and 2018, then in 2021-22, and who has led the Slovak selection since 2022 with whom he will participate in Euro-2024.

“We will now try with Calzona who worked with Sarri and Spalletti (as assistant, Editor’s note) and who knows 80% of the squad,” added De Laurentiis.

A sign that his appointment until the end of the season is only a matter of hours, Naples announced that the training session initially scheduled for Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. was postponed to 2:00 p.m.

Calzona will only have one session with his new players before facing Barça, the reigning Spanish champion who is also having a difficult season (3rd).

Under Mazzarri’s leadership, Napoli have only garnered fifteen points in twelve league games (1.25 points per game), compared to 21 points in as many games (1.75 per game) for Rudi Garcia.

With a squad largely unchanged from that which dominated Serie A in 2022-23 and which offered Neapolitan fans a third national title after 33 years of waiting, Naples already only has the Champions League to save his season.

Napoli are left behind in the league, were eliminated from the Italian Cup upon entering the competition and were beaten in the final of the Italian Super Cup by Inter Milan.