With Rafa Benitez reportedly ready to leave at the end of the season, Napoli president and film producer Aurelio de Laurentiis is taking matters into his own hands ahead of a Europa League quarter-final match against Wolfsburg on Thursday night.
De Laurentiis ordered the squad into a permanent training camp after getting eliminated by Lazio last week in the Coppa Italia semi-final.
The hotel that the squad was put up in reportedly had no hot water and no functioning kitchen at times, prompting some players to order out for dinner.
After a convincing 3-0 win over Fiorentina on Sunday which ended a five-match winless streak in Serie A, players were allowed out for one night but had to report back the next day to prepare for Thursday night’s match in Germany.
“I’ve decided that the squad will go into training camp indefinitely,” De Laurentiis wrote on Twitter. “Napoli is a city full of distractions and now is the time for maximum concentration. Success has to be based on discipline.”
Members of Napoli’s staff disagreed with the move. “My colleagues can oppose it but the decision is up to me,” De Laurentiis said.
Napoli are attempting to win only their second European trophy, after Diego Maradona led the southern club to what was then known as the Uefa Cup in 1989.
De Laurentiis bought Napoli in 2004 when the club was bankrupt and has seen the squad rise from the third division to a perennial challengers in Serie A.
While the atmosphere may not be as tense as at Napoli, Fiorentina are also under pressure to produce when they visit Kiev.
The Tuscan side were also eliminated from the Coppa Italia semi-finals last week after a 3-0 home loss to Juventus. They then followed that up with the defeat at Napoli.
Dynamo have won all five of their European home games this season. Elsewhere, defending champions Sevilla, undefeated at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium over 32 matches, host 2008 winners Zenit St Perersburg. Belgian side Club Brugge host Dnipro in the final tie.
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Day 4, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage appeared to have been hard done by when he had his dismissal of Sami Aslam chalked off for a no-ball. Replays suggested he had not overstepped. No matter. Two balls later, the exact same combination – Gamage the bowler and Kusal Mendis at second slip – combined again to send Aslam back.
Stat of the day Haris Sohail took three wickets for one run in the only over he bowled, to end the Sri Lanka second innings in a hurry. That was as many as he had managed in total in his 10-year, 58-match first-class career to date. It was also the first time a bowler had taken three wickets having bowled just one over in an innings in Tests.
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