The two Napoli players were at the presentation of the 2020 calendar
“Gattuso has so much battling spirit and his character will help us so much.”
That was how Fernando Llorente and Alex Meret described their new coach during the presentation for the 2020 SSC Napoli calendar.
“We’re going through a difficult situation at the moment,” stated the Spanish forward, “and we want to get back on track as quickly as possible.
Gattuso has given us a real boost. He’s come in full of desire and determination. That’s very important for us because we want to show what we’re capable of quickly, starting with the Parma game on Sunday.”
Meret expressed a similar point of view:
“What has struck all of us about Gattuso is the huge battling spirit and intensity which he’s got across to us straight away.
He’s a coach who will know how to get the best out of us. We’re now working with his strong determination and we know we have to improve because our current position in the table isn’t good enough for this team. We have a competitive squad and if we play with desire and commitment, we’ll move up the table.”
Both players also talked about the experience of the calendar photoshoot itself.
“It was my first time,” stated Llorente with a smirk, “and I must say I really enjoyed having the photos taken. When we were off camera, we took the mickey out of one another and had a real laugh with our team-mates.
It was a very important experience for us because of the atmosphere that it created for us off the pitch.”
“The only issue,” Meret admitted, “is that we aren’t all models and so we were embarrassed at the start. We then got into it and the staff were fantastic in terms of helping us enjoy ourselves and relax every day on the set.”
