Napoli fires coach Mazzarri and hires Calzona just 2 days before facing Barcelona

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Napoli’s head coach Walter Mazzarri reacts during the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Genoa at the Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy, Feb. 17, 2024. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

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FILE - Then-Slovakia’s head coach Francesco Calzona gestures during the Euro 2024 group J qualifying soccer match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovakia, at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. Defending Serie A champion Napoli has made its second coaching change of the season just two days before facing Barcelona in the Champions League. Napoli has fired Walter Mazzarri and appointed Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut, File)

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Napoli’s head coach Walter Mazzarri, centre, watches the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Genoa at the Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy, Feb. 17, 2024. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Still struggling in Serie A, defending champion Napoli made its second coaching change of the season just two days before facing Barcelona in the Champions League.

Napoli fired Walter Mazzarri after training on Monday and appointed Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona, who was the former assistant at the Serie A team but has never managed at club level.

Mazzarri replaced Rudi Garcia only in November and Napoli, which is emerging as one of the worst defending champions in the history of the Italian league, became the first Serie A team to change coaches twice in the season after winning the league.

“Mazzarri is a family friend and it is always painful to fire a friend,” Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis told Italian television channel Sky Sport. “I thanked him also for his readiness to come help us in a difficult moment for us.

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“You need to manage to give something extra to Napoli and its fans, however.”

The 55-year-old Calzona has been given a contract until the end of the season and will be allowed to continue with his duties as Slovakia coach in the meantime, having helped the team qualify for the upcoming European Championship.

Calzona was assistant coach to Maurizio Sarri at Napoli from 2015-18, when the team was much lauded for its style of play despite not winning anything. He was also part of Luciano Spalletti’s staff before leaving in 2022 for the Slovakia post, his first role as a head coach.

“Now we have to give space and support to Francesco Calzona, who has worked with us before both in Sarri’s time and with Spalletti and know 80% of this group,” De Laurentiis said.

“Time ... will tell us if this was the right choice.”

Napoli is set to face Barcelona on Wednesday in the round of 16 of the Champions League.

Mazzarri replaced Garcia in November and collected only 15 points in 12 Serie A matches — worse than his predecessor.

Garcia was fired after amassing 21 points from 12 matches and with Napoli in fourth place in Serie A, 10 points behind league leader Inter Milan.

Saturday’s draw at home to Genoa left Napoli 27 points behind Inter, in ninth place and out of the European qualifying places.

Since the end of World War II, only five times has a defending champion finished 20 points or more behind the Serie A champion. Juventus has the worst record, finishing 24 points behind champion AC Milan in 1962, a year after winning the title.

Napoli looks a far cry from the team that won Serie A last season, thrilling at home and in Europe.

Garcia took over last offseason from title-winning coach Spalletti, who left to take a year-long sabbatical and then was named coach of Italy following Roberto Mancini’s resignation.

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