Planes, trains and automobiles for Napoli exodus to Madrid

MILAN: Desperate Napoli fans have signed up as official Real Madrid supporters in a bid to attend a Champions League clash that will see an estimated 10,000 Neapolitans descend on the Spanish capital Wednesday.

Napoli, last season’s runners-up, are nine points behind Juventus in the Serie A title race but, with a league-topping 57 goals in 24 games, are playing arguably the best football in Italy.

The southerners’ first appearance in the last 16 of the competition since losing to Chelsea in 2012 has fans in a frenzy.

And Naples’ mayor, Luigi De Magistris, is whipping it up.

“I know the mayor of Madrid well... but we have to give them a nasty surprise on Wednesday,” De Magistris said in a video post on YouTube.

“Spain is a great country, but Naples is better and we have to go there looking to win.”

Along with Juventus, Napoli are supported by fans throughout the peninsula due to mass migration from the south during the postwar years to more industrial parts of Italy.

And fans are going to extreme measures to reach the Spanish capital.

Allocated only 3,917 tickets for the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, an estimated six thousand more Napoli fans want a piece of the action.

They have chartered planes, taken indirect flights via Istanbul, Zurich and Brussels and hired minibuses, according to widespread reports.

Most will be without a ticket, but gazzetta.it said: “Some have secured a ticket thanks to a Real Madrid-supporting friend or season-ticket holder while others have spent a fortune for a place in the executive boxes.

“But a lot more spent the 30 euros it costs, payable via internet, to become an official Madrid supporter (Madridista) in a bid to their hands on a coveted ticket.”

Some families are travelling via ferry from Civitavecchia to Barcelona then on to Madrid via train, on Monday. Seven other fans will embark on a 40-hour round trip over 4400 kilometres in a minibus. - AFP