Dejan Stankovic assures Sampdoria are ‘ready for the challenge’ of facing leaders Napoli and will show ‘no fear’, while he expects a wonderful tribute to Gianluca Vialli at Marassi.

A minute’s silence will be held in every stadium before kick-off for Vialli, but none will be more emotional than at his beloved Sampdoria, where he won the Scudetto, Cup Winners’ Cup, Coppa Italia and Italian Supercup.

“Obviously, my first thoughts go to Gianluca Vialli,” said Stankovic in his press conference.

“He was a great man, even more than a great player. I will always treasure the messages he sent welcoming me when I joined Samp. He wrote with great love, respect and affection, it really touched my heart. We lost a great man.”

The Blucerchiati seemed to turn a corner in their season after the long break for the 2022 World Cup, picking up a 2-1 victory away to Sassuolo on Wednesday.

At the same time, Napoli suffered their first Serie A defeat of the season against Inter and are feeling vulnerable compared to the juggernaut that saw out last year.

“Napoli are a fantastic team and at the moment they remain the favourites for the Scudetto, so naturally are the favourites against us at Marassi too.

“However, we are concentrated only on ourselves. They are the favourites, but we are on home turf and will show no fear. Respect for every opponent, but never fear. We must honour the jersey in front of our supporters and we are ready for the challenge.

“The win over Sassuolo was above all excellent in terms of mentality, as we stayed concentrated throughout.”

Stankovic updated reporters on the injury list, which includes Fabio Quagliarella, Ignacio Pussetto, Harry Winks, Omar Colley and suspended Bruno Amione, but Filip Djuricic returns from his one-match ban and is expected to start.

Curiously, the two clubs exchanged players today, as Bartosz Bereszynski joined Napoli and Alessandro Zanoli went the other way.

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