'Painful farewell' - Napoli explain decision to sack Walter Mazzarri and bring in Francesco Calzona just days before crunch Champions League tie with Barcelona

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis explained that the decision to let Mazzarri go, having only re-hired the 62-year-old in November, was motivated by the team winning just four of his 12 Serie A games in charge and tumbling to ninth in the table.

De Laurentiis told Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport Italia: "Walter Mazzarri is a friend of the De Laurentiis family and of Napoli. It is a painful farewell because he was extremely available in a moment of difficulty, but we must also consider that something more must be given to the Napoli fans. Now let's try with Calzona who has worked with [Maurizio] Sarri and [Luciano] Spalletti and knows 80% of the players. Let's give him help without putting obstacles in his way because we know that it will be difficult to prepare for a match against Barcelona who are always Barcelona. Tomorrow morning at 8:30am, Calzona will be here with his staff, then we will go to Castel Volturno where I will introduce him to the boys. [Marek] Hamsik was very intrigued to work for the team he loves and which has given him so much satisfaction."

Calzona was previously on the Napoli backroom team under both Luciano Spalletti (2021-2022) and Maurizio Sarri (2015-2018) and will combine being interim head coach with his existing role in charge of Slovakia's national team.

Napoli are just two days away from hosting Barcelona at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie. Trailing Serie A leaders Inter by 27 points, retaining their domestic title is out of the question, while the club are already out of this season's Coppa Italia and lost the Supercoppa Italiana final to Inter last month. That makes Europe their only hope to finish 2023/24 with a trophy.