How Napoli became Europe's great entertainers

It was a scoreline that reverberated around the Champions League. The great Ajax conceded six goals in their heaviest European defeat, yet the result was not inflicted by the traditional powerhouses of the competition.

Not since the days of Diego Maradona and Careca have Napoli won a European title, nor a Scudetto, but they have become the most exciting team of this season. Liverpool were swept aside at the old Stadio San Paolo by a team who are top of Serie A and have outscored their rivals.

This is not luck, Aurelio De Laurentiis tells Telegraph Sport. It comes from tough decisions in the summer and a pre-season at altitude in the Italian mountains. De Laurentiis’ principles come from the film industry where he has produced hundreds of successful movies.

“You know, my first job is entertainment,” he said. “Production of movies, production of fiction, theatre, for 55 years, so when I started to be involved in football, I was always thinking to entertain. When we make a movie you must invest some ideas and a script and two years later to please your spectator. The same is in sport and football. You have an obligation.”

With the genius of Maradona, Napoli thrived on the role of outsider upsetting the traditional Italian heavyweights. Now, 32 years on from their last title win, the stars appear to be aligning with their attacking talents.

They have “Kvaradona” in Georgian young forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Giacomo Raspadori, on loan from Sassuolo, is making a name for himself in the Champions League, while Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego and another loan signing, has pace in attack. Many of their attacks go through Piotr Zielinski.

For the De Laurentiis, this entertainment is not confined to Naples. Luigi De Laurentiis, son of Aurelio, is president of Bari who are top of Serie B.

“The fact we are No 1 in the table, and we are also with Bari in Serie B, is because since we are working around football, we work like movies or fiction,” said De Laurentiis Sr. “The only difference is when you make a script you know the end, you know exactly how to please the spectator.

“When you make a team you have many difficult problems and don't know what will happen. There are no competitors in movies, only when you open on the market. There could be movies from Disney, Universal, Warner. But when your team plays against the top teams like Ajax or Liverpool or Bayern Munich or anyone who is playing a certain level, you never know what can happen. You have the referee’s interpretation which you must respect.

“But I don’t believe in luck. I produced, with the finance of my money, 400 movies and I never had a flop. That is not luck. Hard work, concentration, ideas and marketing. If you don’t market your people and don't know what is expected from you, it is like a show without pleasing the spectators. It is the same with football.”

Some of the tough decisions over the summer were allowing the departures of Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea, Lorenzo Insigne to Toronto FC and Fabian Ruiz to Paris St-Germain. Their loans into the club have worked, as has the arrivals of South Korea centre-back Kim Min-jae and landing Andre-Frank Anguissa from Fulham.

De Laurentiis also believes the pre-season ahead of Luciano Spalletti’s second season in charge gave them the best preparation for their start to the campaign, which has seen them yet to taste defeat.

“During the summer I spoke to my collaborator about big decisions and how we must change the team, we must renew the players,” said De Laurentiis. “We were lucky in the market but with our expertise we found some people we were scouting for three years, two years, one year.

“In the negotiations we were smarter and faster than our competitors. We already had inspiration of certain players already here and the coach. Then everyone else liked to go to USA, Australia, China or Japan before the season – I never moved.

"If I must play against some important teams, I want to play in the place we were doing pre-season, strictly in Italy in the mountains at 1,200m.

“When you prepare very well people, afterwards the results are there. There is also a section of psychology of people, not only the physical capacity.

"When you must make a team you must mix psychology, intellectual and physical and you must make the group because the individual will never make a real victory. You must be a group. After you can have a big personality players, others are more timid but that is life.”