Napoli said they didn’t contact the European football governing body, UEFA, to lobby the football body over Juventus’ slot in the UEFA Champions League.
Juventus and two other European giants – Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are in a tug of war with UEFA. The European football governing body wants the three clubs to abandon their idea of creating a breakaway league known as the European Super Cup.
Despite the pressure on the three clubs to abandon the breakaway league, the three clubs are still standing their grounds on the planned league even though other 9 clubs – Chelsea, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, and AC Milan that initially showed interest in it abandoned the idea.
Hence, UEFA had to set up a disciplinary committee that has commenced sitting against the three clubs and it is expected that they might be banned from the Champions League if they fail to reach a compromise with the football body.
Due to this, Napoli who failed to qualify for the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League campaign on the last day of the just-concluded season were rumored to be lobbying for Juventus’ spot in the competition.
Recall that on the last day of the season, Napoli who went into their last Serie A fixture on the 4th spot needed to win to maintain their spot. Unfortunately for them, they drew 1-1 against a mid-table team, Hellas Verona. While Juventus who were a point behind them won their last game of the season 4-1 against Bologna.
The win moved Juventus to the 4th spot and pushed Napoli to the 5th spot which means that Napoli would play in Europa League while Juventus will represent Italy in the Champions League if the ongoing disciplinary committee sitting does not go against them.
Due to the failure of Napoli to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League campaign, the club sacked coach Gennaro Gattuso and replaced him with coach Luciano Spalletti.
A statement from Napoli countering the report that the club’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis has been trying to lobby UEFA over Juventus’ Champions League spot insisted that nothing of such was carried out by the club’s president.
The club’s statement read: “President Aurelio De Laurentiis did not contact UEFA regarding the possibility of entering into the next edition of the Champions League.
“The rumor reported by Bein Sports is therefore entirely without foundation.”
President Aurelio De Laurentiis has not contacted UEFA about the possibility of entering next year's Champions League. The claim made by BeIN Sports is completely baseless.
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) June 5, 2021
