Supercup, De Laurentiis ready to block Napoli

Super Cup, De Laurentiis ready to block Napoli

Controversy continues regarding the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. After yet another postponement of the dates, the semifinals have been set for Jan. 18 and 19 (Napoli-Fiorentina and Inter-Lazio), while the final will be scheduled for Jan. 22: all matches will be played in Riyadh, at the Al-Nassr stadium. Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis, already very skeptical about the choice of Saudi Arabia, has raised the issue of training grounds, which he says may not be up to par: "If the training grounds are not up to par, I won't send Napoli", are the words reported by Corriere della Sera.

According to rumors, De Laurentiis sent a delegation from the Campania-based company precisely to carry out some inspections.

Lega Serie A President Lorenzo Casini on Monday had made the tournament official: "The Italian Super Cup will be played in Saudi Arabia on January 18 and 19 for the semifinals and January 22 for the final. The stadium will be the same for all competitions, namely that of’Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, where the Spanish Super Cup will be played. There will be no different stadiums, the negotiation was not yet defined".

"The dates from the’beginning had to be defined according to the’need of the Serie A calendar, the teams, the host country. On logistics, various options were evaluated then it was è decided that it was preferable to follow the model of the Spanish Super Cup so play everything in the same stadium".