A very bitter afternoon for Aurelio De Laurentiis: the whistles when for a few moments the big screen framed him in the stadium was the last act of a bad day. The owner was already enraged by the team’s performance, yet he remained in his place until the end. A few steps away from him was Maradona’s former manager Stefano Ceci. At the end of the match the president gets up and leaves: angry and dark-faced.
A FEW MINUTES LATER the press blackout from Napoli arrives. Nobody spoke, not even on pay TV, with the usual risk of a fine (which the blue club has already received). Making 2+2 was easy: De Laurentiis’ decision. “The usual president”, it was rumoured. And in fact everything suggested that the decision had been imposed by the owner, something that had already been seen several times. And instead the head of communications Nicola Lombardo takes care of clarifying. He does it to Dazn’s microphones, explaining the press blackout, and perhaps trying to find an agreement with the broadcaster to avoid sanctions. «We want to apologize to the media for the press silence. Calzona and the players decided it, De Laurentiis accepted it – said Lombardo – a complicated moment, it’s not a question of showing off. There will be times shortly to speak to the media. Sorry for the fans. This is the situation”. And therefore the blue club renews for a future date to be deciphered: who knows when. Maybe Thursday on the eve of the match against Fiorentina, or directly on Friday after the match. And then obviously there is the variable De Laurentiis, who at any moment could summon journalists and speak. Although now it would be better to do the facts.
A FEW MONTHS AGO, last December after Monza (0-0) Napoli’s last press silence in the championship. It wasn’t Mazzarri who showed up, but De Laurentiis. The team remained silent, but the president appeared in the press room to apologize and promise to “make amends” with the January transfer window, as well as to make a subsequent appointment to explain the year which was already disastrous at the time. . This time, however, the silence was total. Only Thiago Motta showed up in the conference room of the “Maradona”, who normally held the conversation with the journalists.
