Monday, 27 April 2015

The Napoli president launched a sensational attack on the authorities following further violent episodes on Sunday before and during the Turin derby Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has hit out at Italy's failure to clamp down on fan violence, labelling the country a "mafia state". There have been a number of violent episodes in recent weeks, with Roma fans launching an aggressive campaign against president James Pallotta and Cagliari ultras entering a training camp to angrily confront players. On Sunday, there were more problems as Torino fans smashed Juventus' team bus prior to the Turin derby, while 11 Granata fans were injured during the game by a firework thrown by Bianconeri fans. "We have a mafia state," De Laurentiis roared to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli. "We are the mafia capital, we have the Ndrangheta (the Calabrese mafia), the Camorra (Neapolitan mafia) – is this what we call the bel paese? "We need Angelino Alfano [Italy's Minister of the Interior] to take a good hard look at himself. I know he is worried about it, but he's far behind, because we already told him to give power to the police in the stands like they do in England. He didn't listen. "This violence has nothing to do with organised fan groups. Why does Alfano not do something an eight-year-old child could organise? "We are tired of this apathy that guarantees political votes. In England, the Prime Minister moved to fix violence in stadiums [after the Hillsborough disaster], while here, everyone just stands around." De Laurentiis has been a vocal critic of fan violence ever since a Napoli fan, Ciro Esposito, was murdered by a Roma Ultra prior to the 2014 Coppa Italia final. A few weeks ago, a group of Roma fans unveiled a banner inside the Stadio Olimpico mocking Esposito's mother, which prompted widespread condemnation.

The midfielder has been linked with a move to Manchester United and, with his contract expiring in 2016, the club are under pressure to decide whether to sell.Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has admitted the club will have to make a decision over the future of Ilkay Gundogan soon.


Reports emerged in Germany on Friday that the midfielder was close to a transfer to Manchester United, but the club's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has denied that there has been any contact between the two clubs.
Zorc accepts, however, that with his contract set to expire in 2016, the club must consider if they want to sell Gundogan in order to avoid losing the player for free, as they did with Robert Lewandowski.
"Gundogan's situation isn't straightforward, because his contract expires in 2016. There will be a decision soon," he told Kicker.
Defender Mats Hummels is another BVB star to be linked with a summer exit but Zorc is more confident over the prospect of keeping the World Cup-winner.
"As far as I know, Hummels' contract still runs until 2017. We did not receive any offer that we should think about," he said.
"There will surely be some changes to the team this summer. Maybe more changes than in recent years. But we won't radically change our team."
Zorc is now looking forward to Tuesday's DFB-Pokal semi-final with Bayern Munich.
"Knockout matches have a certain appeal, because you can solve everything in one match. The final in Berlin is a dream goal for us. We have many beautiful and some not so beautiful memories from that stadium.
"The final is important and the team who qualifies can be proud. Getting to Berlin was always an important goal. Of course we know that we are not the favourite in this semi-final but that is not important."

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