Spezia have a huge injury crisis on their hands before facing Serie A leaders Napoli, missing nine players, and coach Luca Gotti warns ‘there’s no guarantee I will be fit for the bench either.’
It kicks off at the Stadio Alberto Picco on Sunday at 11.30 GMT and playing the runaway title favourites would be tough enough in normal circumstances.
On top of that, Spezia go into the match without suspended Emmanuel Gyasi, plus injured M’Bala Nzola, Emil Holm, Jacopo Sala, Simone Bastoni, Albin Ekdal, Viktor Kovalenko, Jeroen Zoet, Joao Moutinho and Szymon Zurkowski.
Even their coach is on the treatment table, as Gotti just had surgery in Milan after struggling with mobility issues that had seen him using crutches.
“I had the operation on Monday morning and rushed the recovery process a little so I could prepare the game with my staff and squad,” said Gotti in his press conference.
“There’s no guarantee I will be fit for the bench either and unfortunately the lay-out of the stadium doesn’t help me with the logistics either, so it could be tricky.
“I watched all the training sessions remotely and kept in constant contact with my colleagues.”
Napoli have lost only one Serie A match all season, but did show some weakness in their Coppa Italia elimination at the hands of Cremonese.
“You can see all the Napoli players know exactly what they need to do and they are beautiful to watch. It would be a difficult match even at the peak of our capabilities, let alone when missing nine players in one go, but we will give our all anyway and if Napoli are better on the day, we’ll tip our hats to them.”
Spezia could give former Roma striker Eldor Shomurodov his debut upfront.
“He hasn’t played for a while, but is in good condition and arrived with a big smile on his face.”