Maurizio Sarri is one of football’s unapologetic purists and his post-match comments on Friday night were a perfect example.
The Napoli boss spoke for football fans everywhere when lamenting the kits on show at the San Paolo for his team’s 0-1 defeat to Juventus.
Sarri: "I thought I’d die before I saw a Napoli v Juventus with grey jerseys against yellow. It hurt, as it hurt I imagine for those who grew up with Panini stickers and with attachment to club colours. It made me profoundly sad.”
— Football Italia (@footballitalia) December 1, 2017
Wearing away colours at home is irritating at the best of times, but when there is no apparent need to change from the clubs’ traditional colours of sky blue and black and white, you can understand why fans were disappointed.
For many it was a “game’s gone” moment.
Napoli vs Juventus in a "this pleases no one" kit match-up. Napoli wearing black and Juve wearing yellow. We're being denied a great looking pair of kits here.
— El Pollo Diablo (@Juleswithnoname) December 1, 2017
Some fans were so outraged they turned back to the Championship game.
https://twitter.com/maff_13/status/936703576394608641
Napoli of course did wear their away strip at home for much of last season, after chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis deemed it a lucky charm, but that switch was slightly less offensive, because who doesn’t love a big blue slash over a crisp white base?
Now we can just hope that the people behind this bizarre decision don’t make the same mistake again, for Sarri’s sanity more than anything.
