Napoli Sack Walter Mazzarri Ahead Of Barcelona Champions League Tie
Italian champions Napoli are looking for their third manager of the season after sacking Walter Mazzarri.
Mazzarri returned for a second spell as Napoli manager in November following the dismissal of Rudi Garcia.
But results have barely improved, with Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Genoa seeing Napoli drop down to 9th on the table.
Napoli were in fourth position when Mazzarri was contracted for the rest of the season but they now find themselves a whopping 27 points behind leaders Inter Milan and nine points adrift the top four.
Napoli will face Barcelona in a UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
Slovakia boss Francesco Calzona has been named as an interim replacement for the rest of the campaign.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis told Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport Italia: "Walter Mazzarri is a friend of the De Laurentiis family and of Napoli. It is a painful farewell because he was extremely available in a moment of difficulty, but we must also consider that something more must be given to the Napoli fans.
"Now let's try with Calzona who has worked with [Maurizio] Sarri and [Luciano] Spalletti and knows 80% of the players.
"Let's give him help without putting obstacles in his way because we know that it will be difficult to prepare for a match against Barcelona who are always Barcelona.
Mazzarri first took charge of Napoli from 2009 to 2013.
He won one Coppa Italia trophy during his first stint at the club.
