Former Milan Coach Arrigo Sacchi believes Napoli need “greater intensity” to turn around their tie with Real Madrid.
Maurizio Sarri’s side were beaten 3-1 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their Champions League Last 16 tie, and welcome the Spaniards to San Paolo on Tuesday.
“At the Bernabeu I saw positioning errors and insufficient pressing,” Sarri explained to Il Mattino.
Former Milan Coach Arrigo Sacchi believes Napoli need “greater intensity” to turn around their tie with Real Madrid.
Maurizio Sarri’s side were beaten 3-1 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their Champions League Last 16 tie, and welcome the Spaniards to San Paolo on Tuesday.
“At the Bernabeu I saw positioning errors and insufficient pressing,” Sarri explained to Il Mattino.
“A lot of the time, Real were pressing more than Napoli. They need to mark, press, anticipate, share, be organised and have greater intensity from the attackers, the defensive phase starts with them.
“If [Ruud] Gullit and [Marco] Van Basten didn’t press, then the midfielders couldn’t mark, and if they couldn’t mark then it left space to others.
“It’s significant that their midfielders are serving the best attackers. If you let these attackers, Cristiano Ronaldo, [Gareth] Bale, Karim Benzema…
“If you let them get the ball then… good luck.”
President Aurelio De Laurentiis criticised Sarri and the team after the first leg, and Sacchi thinks it was unhelpful.
“I told him right away that it was ungenerous toward such a good Coach. The President needs to speak with the team, with the Coach, not with reporters.
“Anyone who knows football knows that this team is doing a service to the game. De Laurentiis is an intelligent person and he’s bringing planning to Napoli that they’ve never had before.
“For so long they only took famous players at the end of their career to deceive people.
“Since the President is an intelligent person, he knows how much Sarri is worth.”