Official: Napoli sack their manager ahead of Barcelona UCL round of 16 clash

Napoli have taken a big step ahead of their Champions League tie round of 16 tie against Barcelona, sacking their manager Walter Mazzarri. Francesco Calzona has taken his place as the head coach, as announced by their president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Ringrazio Walter Mazzarri, amico della famiglia De Laurentiis e del Napoli, per aver sostenuto la squadra in un momento complesso. Resterà nel cuore dei napoletani e della nostra famiglia. Bentornato a Francesco Calzona, che ha già lavorato con noi sia con Sarri che con Spalletti

This news had been circulating for a while, with the Italian giants unhappy with Mazzarri’s work, who only took over the club in November from Rudi Garcia, who was sacked after a series of poor results.

Napoli had won the Serie A last season for the first time since the 1989/90 season, when Diego Maradona led them to glory. However, they are currently languishing in 9th place in the table, having won only 10 of their 24 games.

Luciano Spalletti left the club after two seasons in charge after dispute with the administration, and took over the Italian National Team job, instead. However, none of his successors have been able to get the best out of the Naples side since.

In fact, Napoli have won only three of their last three games, including a 0-1 loss in the Italian Super Cup final to Inter Milan.

They will now face Barcelona at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium for the first leg of the clash, with the second leg taking place on 12th March in the Catalan capital.

Barcelona will be hoping they do not get hit by a new manager bounce as they prepare for this tie.