Italy coach Luciano Spalletti regretted on Monday that his successor at the head of Naples Rudi Garcia, who should be dismissed at the start of the week, found himself in “an unfair situation” because of “comparisons with the past. “I have nothing to say about Naples. I had prepared myself a little [à cette question]I am the coach of the national team and I think that it is now unfair that I speak about the life of the clubs”, initially declared Spalletti at a press conference, four days before a capital match of Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia.
“I have a lot of respect for Garcia, he has shown that he is a decent, balanced person. It was not fair from the first match to compare it with what had been done with this team before,” regretted Spalletti. The Italian technician won the Italian championship title last season with Napoli, who had been waiting for this third coronation for thirty-three years.
Igor Tudor anticipated
Under the leadership of Spalletti, Naples flew through the 2022-2023 season, relegating their runner-up, Lazio, to 16 points. Spalletti then decided to leave his post, initially to take a sabbatical, before agreeing to take over the Nazionale following the surprise resignation of Roberto Mancini in mid-August.
The day after the defeat at home against the poorly ranked Empoli (1-0), the president-owner of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, called a crisis meeting on Monday which should lead to the dismissal of Garcia and the appointment of his successor , possibly the Croatian Igor Tudor. Under Garcia’s leadership, Napoli have played 16 matches in the league and Champions League for a record of eight wins, four draws and four defeats, all at home.