Lorenzo Insigne denies that he ever came close to leaving Napoli for Barcelona.
The Partenopei host the Catalans at the Stadio San Paolo in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday, and Insigne is looking forward to testing himself against the Spanish champions an La Liga leaders.
“They are a great club,” he said at his press conference on Monday.
“But I have never been close to joining them.
“I never had that opportunity.”
Diego Maradona is an important figure for Napoli and still idolised around the city and while Insigne admits that Lionel Messi is currently the best player in the world, he doesn’t think he can be compared to the former Napoli star.
“Currently Messi is the best player in the world, but I can’t compare him to Maradona because for us Neapolitans, Diego is sacred,” the Neapolitan explained.
“At this moment, Messi is the best of all.”
Focusing on the game itself, the Napoli captain knows what his side have to do to get a positive result.
“We must play a perfect game,” Insigne admitted.
“We need to be good in defence and attack, and this is a great challenge.
“We’ll try to score goals and not concede any.”
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com