Former Napoli left-back Faouzi Ghoulam shares his incredible memories about head coach Maurizio Sarri in an interview he gave to Corriere dello Sport newspaper. The Algerian former footballer states that just winning a match was never enough for Sarri at that time. According to what Ghoulam told, the Italian coach wanted his players to get the opponent fans out of the stadium early. Ghoulam reveals the pressure of those days by saying, "If there were still opponent fans in the stands at minute 70, we compulsorily did 2 training sessions on Tuesday." That is why the Napoli team continued to attack by taking the ball immediately to the center circle as if they were losing the match even after making the score 3-0. Opponents could not give meaning to this situation, but Napoli players fought a relentless struggle to escape the 2 training penalty. Ghoulam also remembers the first Kyiv away match in the Champions League group stage. Entering the dressing room before the match, Sarri intimidated his players by saying, "If I see the ball in our half even once today, you have to score exactly 8 goals." As soon as the match started, the opponent team played a long ball and Sarri went crazy on the sidelines. He immediately turned to his players and shouted that they needed to score 8 goals. Ghoulam looked at his teammate Kalidou Koulibaly at that moment and said that their coach went mad. However, this threat worked and the Napoli team made an extraordinary press throughout the match to prevent the opponent from playing long balls into their half. The players spent an incredible energy on the pitch because they feared the head coach would destroy them.
IMAGE: CALCIO MERCATO