‘It is a disastrous anomaly!’ Furious Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis will complain to UEFA after his side are drawn in the same Champions League group as Liverpool
- Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis is furious at his side’s Champions League draw
- The Serie A side were paired with Liverpool, who were put into pot three
- UEFA bases a team’s position in the pots based on performance in competitions
- The Italian has vowed to launch a complaint with tournament organisers UEFA
Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis has been left furious at his side’s Champions League group stage draw after they were paired with last season’s finalists Liverpool.
The outspoken Italian has vowed to launch a complaint with UEFA after the Serie A runners-up were also drawn alongside Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star Belgrade in one of the competition’s toughest groups.
Despite reaching last season’s final in Kiev, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds were seeded in pot three for the draw, with Napoli in two and PSG in one. Liverpool’s placing has infuriated De Laurentiis, who has now promised to take action.
Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis has been left furious at his side’s Champions League group
‘We are bitter, I will ask for an explanation from UEFA,’ said De Laurentiis, speaking to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.
‘Liverpool, Champions League finalists, are put in pot 3? It is a disastrous anomaly.’
UEFA’s club coefficient is used to determine which pot a team goes into. That is calculated using a team’s performance in European competition over the previous five seasons.
Despite reaching the final last campaign and the Europa League final two years earlier, the Reds were absent from European competition in both 2016-17 and 2013-14.
Despite reaching last season’s final in Kiev, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds were seeded in pot three
Napoli were also drawn alongside PSG and Red Star Belgrade in one of the toughest groups
In 2014-15 they did play in the Champions League but were eliminated in the group stage before exiting the Europa League at the first hurdle in a disappointing campaign under Brendan Rodgers.
De Laurentiis will be even more concerned when he thinks back to how his team fared against Liverpool when they met in a pre-season friendly in Dublin last month.
The Premier League giants ran riot and eased to a 5-0 win thanks to goals from James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno.
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