President Aurelio De Laurentiis stirred up further controversy, as he praised Maurizio Sarri after the defeat to Real Madrid, but said Italian media “hates Napoli.”
The patron went on Mediaset Premium after the first leg 3-1 loss at the Bernabeu and bitterly criticised his squad, but was in a more ebullient mood at the San Paolo.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis stirred up further controversy, as he praised Maurizio Sarri after the defeat to Real Madrid, but said Italian media “hates Napoli.”
The patron went on Mediaset Premium after the first leg 3-1 loss at the Bernabeu and bitterly criticised his squad, but was in a more ebullient mood at the San Paolo.
“The result was the same, but the disappointment was not. We gave our all in the first half and Real Madrid are Real Madrid,” De Laurentiis again told Mediaset Premium.
“The fans provided an exemplary setting, our prestigious foreign visitors were able to admire an extraordinary environment and we also treated them to the culinary delights of the region, which are second to none.
“We showed them the emotions of a stadium and people who have suffered for their football for decades. Sarri gave Real Madrid a football lesson.
“There was never a problem. If they look back at my interviews, I always spoke of Maurizio Sarri as a football aesthete and great Coach.
“When I came here after the first leg, I didn’t speak badly of Sarri. I was angry with the team and only satisfied with Lorenzo Insigne. I saw the team deflated and unmotivated in a very important game. As the media is all in the North and slaves of the Northern clubs, and they all hate me, they just wanted to stir up trouble and not reflect what I really said.
“It worked, because we lost to Atalanta a few days later, but we made up for it against Roma. La Gazzetta dello Sport has always been in the pocket of Juventus, Milan and Inter, so they try to stir up trouble and actively hate Napoli.
“If you go around the various stadiums, Italians do not rebel to the chants ‘Vesuvius wash them with lava’ – I’d never have dreamed of such a thing about people from Turin. I want their fans to grow up and be as culturally advanced as the Neapolitans were tonight.”