Allegri banned and De Laurentiis in Geneva as Napoli visit Monza

Napoli play Monza at the U-Power Stadium on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 15:45 ET). The papers that morning were mostly about two absences. The coach is suspended, and the president is in Switzerland.

The bench without Allegri

DAZN went back to the end of Napoli-Roma with its BordoCam (the touchline camera). It pieced together what Allegri said in the heated moments with the fourth official and the Roma bench. Those words cost him two matches: Monza on Wednesday and Juventus on Sunday 1 November, because he chose not to appeal.

Tuttosport profiles his stand-in, Marco Landucci, and writes that he is "often even more present than Max on the pitch". The paper means that as a promise of continuity. Seen from here, it also shows how little is likely to change in a style of play the fanbase is unhappy with.

The Corriere dello Sport leads on Monza with a headline that will cause arguments in Naples: "Napoli, Allegri without fear". It describes a lightning trip. There is no night in a hotel before the game. The squad travels out and back on matchday and gets home overnight rather than going on to Turin, with Juventus and Porto already on the calendar. The paper counts six players unavailable.

Sky's predicted line-ups, as reported on Wednesday, have De Bruyne and Lang on the bench and a start for Giovane. One headline also has Meret out. "Without fear" and De Bruyne starting on the bench do not describe the same match. We will find out on Wednesday night.

The president's trip

The papers do not agree on what Aurelio De Laurentiis's trip was about. La Repubblica reports two meetings in a day and a two-stage plan: naming rights for an "MSC Arena" first, then the Aponte family gradually buying into the club.

Il Mattino reports the meeting in Geneva with Diego and Alexa Aponte. It puts the focus on the new stadium and the training centre, with MSC a possible partner "beyond the naming rights". It does not mention shares. Il Mattino also reports that, according to the Corriere dello Sport, a sponsorship deal was on the table as well.

So only Repubblica is talking about new shareholders. It is the same paper that reported the week before that Napoli were up for sale, a story the president denied.

On Serie A in general, La Gazzetta dello Sport's headline is "A tutto gol" ("All about goals"). The coverage on Wednesday carried only the headline.

Our view

The papers are right to put the empty bench and the absent president side by side. But they treat the first as folklore and the second as the future. Hardly anyone is writing about the present: a defence that let a lead slip twice against Roma, and a team that sits deep as soon as it goes ahead. That matters more right now than the stadium's name.

De Laurentiis has still said nothing in public about Allegri. Nobody is asking Napoli to be without fear at Monza. They need the three points.