Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Napoli president De Larentiis: Diego Maradona can inspire Bernabeu glory

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has invited Diego Maradona to speak to the players in the dressing room before they take on Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Napoli legend Maradona will be at the Bernabeu for the Champions League clash, and De Laurentiis believes he can inspire the team to new heights against the defending champions.

"I hope he comes to the dressing room before kick-off because he can give us the right feeling," he told Il Mattino.

"We've been in Europe for seven years now and our ranking has gone from 550th to 16th.

"I've been president for 12 years, which means I still have some margin to do better. But if you just look at the past seven years, I see a constant rise.

"I'm convinced of two things: that I got some decisions right, and that we are destined to rise further."

He echoed coach Maurizio Sarri's view that Napoli have nothing to fear and said Sarri had a "scientific" approach.

"If I think back today to how, when I appointed him, some of the fan groups -- fortunately not all of them -- criticised me with banners in the stadium, it makes me laugh," he said.

"I could feel straight away that he was a special coach. He's in love with football, and by that I mean beautiful football.

"He's also a man who studies a lot and follows things to the letter, which I would say is scientific. I've never seen such an attentive coach on the training field."

The only thing slowing Napoli's rise, according to De Laurentiis, is their city-owned Stadio San Paolo, and he said he hoped to press on with a plan to build a new home outside the city.

"I need to wait until certain opportunities arise to decide whether to transform the San Paolo into a model stadium, with all the bureaucratic obstacles that would involve, or whether I should build a new stadium once the green light is given," he said.

"One thing is for certain -- the San Paolo is not the final solution."

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