At Radio Napoli Centrale, during Un Calcio alla Radio, he spoke Rosario Rivellino, former Napoli footballer and coach in the 60s and 70s.
Here are his statements: “At the time, I had the stature of a tall footballer, today a dachshund. I played a match against Gullit’s Milan as a coach and I met Gullit in the locker roomI looked at it and thought: ‘How could I mark it if I had played?’ it was exaggerated.
Vinicio’s retreat? I was there by chance, I was not the second of Vinicius. However, one evening at dinner he got a little out of the strict regulations that Vinicius wanted from a diet and behavior point of view. Vinicius stiffened and asked to re-enter his rules, otherwise he would have gone away. At the time, Napoli were lucky enough to have a great captain, Julianothey met and accepted the conditions of the coach. Vinicius demanded the oxygenation chamber because of the exhausting preparation they did, albeit done with logic. The players came out exhausted, they went to do this path and recovered: since then I have understood that it is the recovery that is important, more than the training itself. In my ranking I put Vinicio, Sarri and Spalletti because Vinicio did not have the coaching staff of now, he did everything by himself.
If I was expecting this Naples? Nobody expected it, it’s very pleasant. Each player interlocks with the team mate next to him, he has become a perfect game, he is a perfect team. The coach is good.
Bottom construction? It started with Sarri because he has a passion for ball possession, with Spalletti they do it less and to do it you need suitable players. In Naples we burned a great defender like Maksimovic to play the game from below. It was like that for Manolas too, in Rome everyone played behind and he was the defense giant, he always entered without fail. In Naples he went into trouble because he was not quick and quick.
Kim? I see him very well as a defender, in the sense of being on man and anticipating man, to set up I see him in some difficulty. Rrhamani is the best defender Napoli has, it’s a big loss to have him in the pits.
Kvara plus Meroni or George Best? I think he’s superior to Best, he’s an ambidextrous, Mertens type who plays with both feet. He is a slender and plays very well. The only thing to correct – and I understood that he is doing it – must play more for the team than for himself, he does not do it out of malice, but out of instinct. Raspadori and Simeone know where to settle in the air of rigor to understand where to receive, this is the luck of Napoli.
Anderlecht-Naples? I was on the bench with Pesaola and we stood up shouting for the header, the referee immediately pointed to an irregularity. Subsequently, there was a foul in favor of the opposing team, right next to our bench and there was the possibility to cross in the penalty area, where should the referee settle? In the penalty area, however, he came to settle behind the ball and did not see what was happening in the air, so then they scored a somewhat fortuitous goal. Burgnich at the end of the match he was very nervous and kicked the locker room door knocking it down. The president of Anderlecht spoke only English and Ferlaino called me to have him translated, he said ‘Fooball isn’t sport, is business’, the referee was a representative of his beer in England and we found out the next day.
Turnover? It’s okay to do it, but who is really tired with. Maybe there are those who have played a lot and do not feel tired, those who really have a technical decline must be rested “.
