ADL: ‘Worried by Mazzoleni’

By Football Italia staff

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis is “worried” by the appointment of Paolo Mazzoleni for the Inter game - “he’s always been bad with us..."

Serie A will play on Boxing Day, with the Partenopei visiting Inter, and today Mazzoleni was confirmed as the referee for that match.

“It worries me,” De Laurentiis said on Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.

“He’s always been bad with us, and even not impartial. Mazzoleni Mazzoleni, Rizzoli Rizzoli… you bring me bad news.

“VAR has been introduced to protect investments, I didn’t imagine it to be another tool in the hands of referees. We fund the referees, but if we got tired and decided to take the ball home people would ask why!

“Whoever is on the VAR must have the power to stop everything when there are incidents, because otherwise there will be doubts, and a feeling there’s a system to direct water to certain mills…”

De Laurentiis did, however, take the time to offer a Christmas greeting.

“Merry Christmas to all Neapolitans, even those who don’t attend football, and a hug to those who have less and are suffering.

“And a hug to Diego [De Laurentiis] too, who has welcomed the birth of little Yuri, who is a new Napoli fan. Being born near Christmas though, he’ll only be getting one gift!

“I want to send greetings to all the Coaches who worked with us, who supported my determined ups-and-downs, even though I started out knowing nothing about football.

“They’re all in my heart, they raised Napoli up to this point and I remember them with great pleasure because they gave me the football culture and experience which means I make fewer mistakes than others.”

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