Maurizio Sarri Makes ‘envy’ Claim After Lazio Upset Napoli in Serie A

• Maurizio Sarri almost guided Napoli to Serie A success in 2017-18 but Juventus finished in first that season
• The Italian, now managing Lazio, came up with a shock 1-0 win over Napoli on Friday, March 3 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona
• He reflected after the game on how Luciano Spaletti’s Napoli side compared to his five years ago

Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri admitted he was ‘envious’ of his counterpart Luciano Spaletti, who is on the verge of a famous Scudetto win.

Sarri’s Lazio came up with the goods as they stunned the runaway leaders 1-0 in the Serie A on Friday, March 3 to move to second on the log.

It was a win that would typically have felt nice for Sarri, but the Italian still has scars from when his own Napoli team missed out on the Serie A, despite being on the same run of form as the current Spaletti side.

In 2017/18, Sarri came close to winning the Scudetto, but missed out to Juventus, who finished as league leaders.

It was during that season that the famous ‘Sarriball’ or ‘Sarrismo’ terms were coined in his honor as Napoli player a type of football that was thrilling to fans.

Asked in a press conference whether he felt Spaletti’s Napoli was the incarnation of his own team five years ago, Sarri said as quoted on Football Italia:

“You can have many beauties. If you prefer blondes, it’s not as if a pretty brunette walks past and you call her ugly,”

“The difference between the teams is that this Napoli is going to win and for that I envy them like crazy! Spalletti has been phenomenal, along with the club and director of sport, he had the courage to do things that had never been done before.”

Napoli has played 24 rounds of matches so far this season and garnered 65 points. In 2018 at the same stage, Sarri’s Napoli had 63 points after playing a similar number of games.

Osimhen on potential EPL move:

Sports Brief also reported on Victor Osimhen's interesting claims on his links to the Premier League.

Osimhen's future at Serie A leaders Napoli may be coming to an end this summer as many clubs in England and even Spain are looking for ways to sign the Nigerian striker.

According to the report on Complete Sports, Osimhen made it clear that his main focus for now is playing for Napoli.

“I think it is an ambition of all players and who knows one day.

“Right now, I assure you it doesn’t even cross my mind. It would distract me from a beautiful season. I’m thinking of only Napoli.”

Source: SportsBrief.com