Eight Napoli players leave on international duty with no

Eight Napoli players leave on international duty with no fix in sight

The break comes with Napoli tenth after a 1-1 draw with Lazio, and Torino are waiting at the Maradona when it ends. The board has kept the head coach, so the two weeks at Castel Volturno now matter.

by Gennaro SanninoMonday 9 November, 22:12 CET· 2 days ago

Vanja Milinković-Savić — Foto: Hossein Zohrevand · CC BY-SA 4.0

Eight Napoli players have been called up by their national teams: Vergara, De Bruyne, Gilmour, McTominay, Højlund, Lang, Milinković-Savić and Olivera.

The break arrives a day after the 1-1 draw with Lazio on Sunday 8 November. Napoli are tenth with 15 points from 11 games and have gone three matches without a win.

Vergara and De Bruyne on opposite sides

Vergara is the only Napoli player in the Italy squad. He is in line for Italy v France on Thursday 12 November and Belgium v Italy on Sunday 15 November, both in the UEFA Nations League.

De Bruyne plays Turkey v Belgium on 12 November, then faces Italy on 15 November. Both men have two games in three days, and on the second date they meet each other.

Gilmour and McTominay are with Scotland for Scotland v North Macedonia on 13 November and Switzerland v Scotland on 16 November. Højlund joins Denmark for Portugal v Denmark on 14 November and Denmark v Norway on 17 November.

Lang is with the Netherlands, who play Netherlands v Greece on 13 November and Germany v Netherlands on 16 November. Milinković-Savić is with Serbia for Serbia v Germany on 13 November and Greece v Serbia on 16 November. All of these are Nations League games.

Olivera is the exception. Uruguay play two friendlies, Argentina v Uruguay on 14 November and Uruguay v Dominican Republic on 18 November. His case needs watching: he has trained with the squad since 6 November but is still unavailable, and his return has been pencilled in for the Sassuolo game on 29 November.

Torino, with no shortcuts

We know what comes next. Torino visit the Maradona on Saturday 21 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). They are not one of Napoli's direct rivals, and another slip against them would not be acceptable.

Napoli are 9 points behind Milan in fourth place, the target Allegri has set, and 14 behind leaders Lazio. The board has chosen to keep the coach and let the break pass, even though this was the moment when a new coach would have had the most time to work.

The real question is what happens over these two weeks. Højlund and Lang both scored nothing against Lazio, when Napoli needed a goal, and international football gives them a chance to find rhythm and confidence.

But the real work is at Castel Volturno, the training ground. When Napoli go to Manchester City on 24 November, they need to be a different side from the one that drew with Lazio.