Azzurri boss Luciano Spalletti admits that he misses Napoli and explained why he was happy to reconcile with Francesco Totti. The Italy coach was speaking with the ‘Cinque minuti’ programme on Rai 1 and shared his thoughts on the Partenopei, his time at Roma and next summers EURO 2024 competition:
“Me as a candidate for best coach in the world along with Inzaghi and Guardiola? With a podium like that you’ll be happy even with third place. I’ll be very happy even in the case of third place. They say I have a bad temper? It’s not slander, but I don’t think I have a bad character, I’ve been in all my experiences for many years.”
“Honorary citizen of Naples? It’s a beautiful thing, I went there and received this beauty, this happiness. The last sportsman had been Maradona, there I faltered and blushed. Do I miss Naples? Yes, very much, I had a great relationship with the team, a relational football had been created. Now I miss it a little, but the national team is always the national team. Is winning the Scudetto in Naples different from all the others? I’ve already said it several times, but I’d like to repeat it: they made me feel like no one else deserves to feel.
“Why did I fight with Totti? I’ve always divided my career between the champions I’ve had. Totti has always had a fair share, but I have to be honest: I have always defended the club and the team’s results. I certainly wouldn’t have achieved a record points tally with Roma if I hadn’t behaved well with Francesco. There was a locker room where he was the captain anyway. The embrace? It was beautiful, as time goes by you become more experienced, now we’ll be in touch more often’.
“The European Championship final? At the moment the French, German and English Vespas are asking the same question to the other national team coaches. We are the holders, we know that we will have some difficulties, but we will not back down’.
