San Paolo ready for Milan

By Football Italia staff

The Stadio San Paolo will be ready for Napoli-Milan at the weekend, but there’s a total breakdown between the club and the city.

The Partenopei had their first game of the season away from home due to renovation works on the stadium, which President Aurelio De Laurentiis has referred to as “a toilet”.

There were fears that it wouldn’t be ready for this weekend’s game, but La Repubblica reports that the San Paolo has been granted a safety certificate.

It’s expected there will be a reduced capacity though, due to ongoing works, and there is all-out war between the club and the council.

There has been no new agreement over a lease, so Napoli will have to rent the stadium on a match-by-match basis.

De Laurentiis and mayor Luigi De Magistris are no longer speaking, and the stadium is expected to be an open-air construction site for most of the season.

In addition, reports Il Mattino, the club has withdrawn the 160 free tickets which are offered to councillors.

“If you say it’s fine not to go to the stadium then I agree,” Aniello Esposito of the Democratic Party told the newspaper.

“I find it absurd though that the owner of the stadium should be outside while the President, who hasn’t signed an agreement for years, can use the structure to do business.”

Nino Simeone of the infrastructures commission also slammed the decision.

“I'm absolutely not interested in entering the stadium. The thing that interests me is that the club pays to play in the San Paolo as anyone else, be it a public or private entity, would to use the city’s structures.”

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