Pairetto named referee for Napoli v Lazio, with Aureliano on VAR

Allegri returns to the bench after his two-match ban for Sunday's visit of the league leaders. He will have eleven players certainly unavailable.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 4 November, 18:24 CET· 3 hours ago

Napoli-Lazio, arbitra Pairetto: al VAR Aureliano, Mazzoleni all'AVAR — Grafica Arena Napoli

Luca Pairetto will referee Napoli v Lazio at the Maradona on Sunday 8 November, in round 11 of Serie A. Kick-off is at 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET).

His assistants will be Alberto Tegoni and Giuseppe Perrotti, with Livio Marinelli as fourth official. Gianluca Aureliano is on VAR, assisted by Paolo Mazzoleni.

The league leaders are coming. Lazio have 28 points and Napoli have 14, exactly half, after ten rounds. That leaves Napoli eighth. Fourth place, the target Allegri set himself, is 9 points away.

Allegri is back on the bench for the game against the leaders after serving a two-match ban. Landucci stood in for him in Turin. There will be fewer away fans in the stands, too: the prefect, the official responsible for public order, has banned ticket sales to residents of the Lazio region.

The referee is not the question

After the 2-0 defeat to Juventus at the Allianz Stadium, part of the debate turned to the replays. We would rather look at the numbers from that game. Juventus had 18 shots to Napoli's 7, and 4 on target to Napoli's one.

The real issue is not who has the whistle. Napoli face Lazio with eleven players certainly unavailable, including all four recognised full-backs, Lobotka and De Bruyne. Marianucci is suspended after his red card in Turin.

Pairetto will be in charge of the game, but the answers have to come from the team. Above all, they have to come from the man who coaches it and from the people who built the squad.

First comes the Champions League trip to the Dragão on Wednesday 4 November at 21:00 CET. Lazio follow on Sunday at 12:30, and Pairetto will blow the whistle to start it.