Napoli’s Christian Maggio is still hopeful of making Cesare Prandelli’s World Cup squad despite his recent injury lay-off.
Napoli’s Christian Maggio is still hopeful of making Cesare Prandelli’s World Cup squad despite his recent injury lay-off.
The 32-year-old has only just returned to training, having had emergency surgery to a collapsed lung after the Partenopei’s Europa League tie with Porto in March.
“I am optimistic,” Maggio told Radio Goal today. “To have come back into training now has made me more relaxed about it because now I have time to prepare myself well and make myself available for the boss.
“Until I know I won’t be in the squad I will continue to hope. The important thing is that Prandelli knows I have returned to training.
“I am well, fortunately on Monday I got the news that I had been waiting for for a while. I am back in full training and that’s what I wanted. Now I just need to get back to the right physical and mental level.”
The player was then questioned about his club side’s upcoming Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina.
“On Saturday we will have the right mentality. We have all been thinking about the match with Fiorentina.
“My teammates have trained very well and I hope they can give a great performance.
“The group has always worked well and on Saturday we will have the chance to express ourselves in the right way. We hope we can do it.
“Before the final two years ago people told me what would happen if we won. By winning the Coppa Italia against Juventus I learned what it means to Napoli when they win a trophy.
“I hope that on Saturday we can return to Napoli celebrating another trophy with our fans.
“This morning Higuain trained with us, that’s a positive sign.
“I am very confident we can bring the cup home. We deserve it because this year we have made a lot of sacrifices. It would be the deserved reward at the end of the year.”