Hamsik: 'Napoli most beautiful in Europe'

By Football Italia staff

Marek Hamsik can’t wait to beat Diego Maradona’s record and believes Napoli “play the most beautiful football in Europe.”

The captain has been at the club for over a decade and, despite being a midfielder, has amassed 112 goals in the Partenopei jersey.

That’s just three shy of Maradona’s all-time club record of 115.

“Of course I am thinking about it, but I won’t make it into an obsession either,” the Slovak international told the Corriere dello Sport.

“I know that three goals seem like so little compared to the 112 I’ve already scored, and maybe they are. I think the tally I’ve reached so far is entirely respectable for a midfielder.

“Don’t ask me if I ever imagined breaking goal records when I was a kid, because it didn’t even remotely pass through my mind. If it happens this season or the next, in any case it will be an exciting moment.

“If I think of the history of Napoli that I can equal and even beat the greatest of all time, well, when that day comes, I’ll be very proud of myself. I can be proud that I’ve achieved such a thing.

“I won’t prepare any special celebration for the 115th goal, but I do suspect it’s going to feel like a very different type of joy to what I usually experience.”

Hamsik had lost confidence and been played out of position by Rafa Benitez and never disguised he had a terrible rapport with the Coach, but has been transformed under Maurizio Sarri.

“I have to agree, I am in the form of my life and this is the best season of my career. I enjoy the way I play and I think that I owe a lot of that to Sarri, to this team and to President Aurelio De Laurentiis, who keeps the club regularly among the top spots. That’s where we want to stay.

“On top of the results, we play the most beautiful football in Europe. Other pundits, Coaches and players say it, but in some performances the quality of our football is undeniable.

“We were doing so well against Real Madrid, it’s a shame that it only lasted 45 minutes. We could’ve achieved something extraordinary.”

Napoli had taken the lead in both legs with Real Madrid, but ultimately crashed out of the Champions League Round of 16 by a 6-2 aggregate scoreline.

“The biggest regrets I have this season are not from that night, but rather the points we dropped along the way in Serie A against Lazio, Sassuolo and Palermo. Imagine where we’d be now.

“We’d be right on the shoulders of Juventus. If you look at the statistics for the second half of the season, we have pretty much the same tally as Juve. That means we’re paying the price for some early setbacks, but are essentially on the same level.

“The two recent games we played against Juve also showed that there is very little between us now. We’re getting there.”

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