Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis announced the sacking of Coach Walter Mazzarri on Monday 19 February 2024 after a 1–1 home draw to Genoa. Mazzarri was sacked after their poor performance. Mazzarri was hired on November 14, 2023 replacing Rudi Garcia, marking Mazzarri’s return to Naples after ten years. The sacking is made just two days before facing Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday 21 February at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
In Serie A, Napoli up to Week 25, they are in the 9th position with only 36 points. Imagine, the defending champions are -27 points below Inter with 63 points in the 1st position. The records are negative. Napoli are one of the worst defending champions in the history of the Serie A Italian league. Napoli are the first Serie A team to change coaches twice in the season after winning the Scudetto.
RANK
TEAM
PL
W
D
L
F
A
GD
PTS
1
Inter Milan
24
20
3
1
59
12
47
63
2
Juventus
25
16
6
3
38
17
21
54
3
AC Milan
25
16
4
5
49
31
18
52
4
Atalanta
24
14
3
7
47
23
24
45
5
Bologna
25
12
9
4
37
23
14
45
6
Roma
25
12
5
8
45
30
15
41
7
Fiorentina
25
11
5
9
37
29
8
38
8
Lazio
24
11
4
9
29
26
3
37
9
Napoli
24
10
6
8
33
28
5
36
Aurelio De Laurentiis has announced the new Napoli coach on Twitter:
“I’d like to thank Walter Mazzarri, a friend of both the De Laurentiis family and Napoli, for having supported the team in such a difficult moment. He will always remain in the hearts of the people of Naples and our family. I’d also like to say welcome back to Francesco Calzona, who has worked with us in the past, under both Sarri and Spalletti.”
Napoli fired Walter Mazzarri after training on Monday and appointed Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona, who was the former assistant but has never managed at club level.
✅ Good morning, my friends! Here are the front pages from the Italian newspapers La Gazzetta dello Sport, Corriere dello Sport, and Tutto Sport, Monday 19 February 2024.
La Gazzetta dello Sport, Front Page, Monday 19 February 2024
Front Page, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Monday 19 February
👉Milan crumble
They concede 4 goals, no overtake of Juve
👉Tomorrow there’s Atletico
Inter, why it’s yes for the Champions League
👉Napoli chaos
Mazzarri in the balance
De Laurentiis contacts Calzona
👉 Hello, my friends. Here are the 2023-2024 Italian Serie A Week 25 RESULTS / Twenty-fifth Round on Friday 16, Saturday 17, and Sunday 18 February 2024. Without a doubt, Inter are having a great season! Inter is the sole leader with 63 points after crushing Salernitana with a 4-0. Salernitana are in the last position with only 13 points.
It seems Inter are running alone at high speed. Juventus wasted their chance to keep up the race for the Scudetto after another draw against Hellas Verona. Juventus risk losing the third position too. Juve are -9 points below Inter and just +2 above AC Milan in the 3rd position. Another flop was for AC Milan who could have taken the 2nd position, yet, they lost the away game against Monza. Good job for Monza showing character and playing without fear. Milan played with 10 players since the 52nd minute after Luka Jovic got a red card. Still, no excuse.
Atalanta consolidated the fourth place with 45 points after beating Sassuolo. On the other hand, Sassuolo, caught by Hellas Verona after the draw against Juventus, is now in third to last place with 20 points.
👉 Italian Serie A Tickets for the next 10 games
===============
Torino have kept 12 clean sheets this season in 24 games, the last time Torio had recorded at least 12 clean sheets after 24 Serie A games this season was in 1991/92 (13 in that case and third place in the standings at the end of the championship). Ivan Juric’s 100th bench with Torino in Serie A TIM, the Croatian coach is the seventh Granata coach with the most benches in the top flight.
Lautaro Martínez is the third player to score at least 20 goals for three seasons in a row in Serie A with Inter, after Giuseppe Meazza (five – from 1929/30 to 1933/34) and Stefano Nyers (four – from 1948/49 to 1951/52). Before Carlos Augusto, the last Inter defender to provide two assists in a Serie A TIM match was Yuto Nagatomo on 21 December 2011.
Considering the last two Serie A TIM seasons, Giovanni Di Lorenzo is the defender who has provided the most assists in the top flight (nine).
Genoa remained unbeaten in their first four away games of a calendar year in Serie A for the first time in the three points per win era (the last precedent dates back to 1993/94).
After three defeats in a row at the Bentegodi, Verona remained unbeaten in six of the last seven home league matches: two wins and four draws in the partial (1P).
Dušan Vlahović scored seven goals in six games played in 2024; in the last 30 seasons (since 1994/95), only one Juventus player has done better than the Serbian in his first six matches of a single calendar year in Serie A TIM: Cristiano Ronaldo with 10, in 2019/20.
Atalanta have won all of their last five matches played in Serie A TIM: this is the longest streak of consecutive victories for the Dea since the one recorded between November and December 2021 (six in that case).
In the last three seasons, Mario Pašalić (22) and Teun Koopmeiners (21) are the two midfielders who have scored the most goals in Serie A TIM.
Bologna have scored 45 points in the first 25 games of a Serie A season for the first time in the three points per win era (since 1994/95).
Felipe Anderson played his 100th consecutive Serie A TIM match since his return to Lazio in 2021/22: he is the only player to always appear in the competition in the last three seasons.
M’Baye Niang is the first Empoli player capable of scoring in his first two appearances for the Tuscan club in Serie A in the three points for a win era.
Empoli for the first time remained unbeaten at home against Fiorentina for four consecutive matches (W2, D2) in Serie A. 1-1 is the most frequent score between these two teams in the competition (six times).
👉 Top Serie A teams standing AFTER Serie A Week 25 game. The first 4 qualify for the Champions League, 5 and 6 for Europa League. (Sunday 18 February 2024)
– INTER, 1st position with 63 points and a positive goal difference of +47
– JUVENTUS, 2nd position with 54 points and a positive goal difference of +21
– AC MILAN, 3rd position with 52 points and a positive goal difference of +18
– ATALANTA, 4th position with 45 points and a goal difference of +24
– BOLOGNA, 5th position with 45 points and a positive goal difference of +14
– AS ROMA, 6th position with 41 points and a positive goal difference of +15
Relegation Zone:
– HELLAS VERONA, 18th position with 20 points and a negative goal difference of -11
– CAGLIARI, 19th position with 19 points and a negative goal difference of -23
– SALERNITANA, 20th position with 13 points and a negative goal difference of -31
👉 2023 – 2024 Italy Serie A Standing – Serie A Table up to Sunday 18 February 2024
✅ Here are the match officials and fixtures for the Serie A Week 25 / Twenty-fifth Round on Friday 16, Saturday 17, and Sunday 18 February 2024 as designated by the Italian Referee Association (AIA).
🇮🇹 The Italian Referee Association (AIA) has designated the match officials for the Serie A Week 25 game Monza vs AC Milan on Sunday 18 February 2024 at the U-Power Stadium in Monza, Italy at 20:45.
Referee Andrea Colombo from the section of Como will be assisted by Valeriani from the section of Ravenna and Stefano Del Giovane from the section of Albano Laziale. The Fourth Official will be Francesco Fourneau from the section of Roma 1. The VAR will be Valerio Marini from the section of Roma 1. The AVAR will be Marco Guida from the section of Torre Annunziata.
=============== Italian Serie A Tickets for the next 10 games
===============
Friday 16 February 2024
TORINO – LECCE
Olimpico di Torino Stadium
Referee: AYROLDI
Assistants: BERCIGLI – TRINCHIERI
Fourth Official: COLLU
VAR: SOZZA
AVAR: MAZZOLENI
19:00
INTER – SALERNITANA
Giuseppe Meazza Stadium
Referee: PICCININI
Assistants: CECCONI – ROSSI C.
Fourth Official: CAMPLONE
VAR: SERRA
AVAR: VALERI
21:00
✅ Good morning, my friends! Here are the front pages from the Italian newspapers La Gazzetta dello Sport, Corriere dello Sport, and Tutto Sport, Sunday 18 February 2024.
La Gazzetta dello Sport, Front Page, Sunday 18 February 2024
Front Page, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sunday 18 February 2024
👉Max draw in Verona, Simone at +9 (and with a game in hand)
Allegri to Inter
Juve have disappeared
And Inzaghi laughs: Scudetto in hand
👉Milan to overtake
Push for second place in Monza
Galliani: “Why I adore Ibra” pic.twitter.com/eMhlLceloZ
By Anna Italia
