Italian pundit takes a swipe at Morelos’ condition in Naples
Italian legend Sebastiano Nela has issued a vicious dig at Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos by insisting he was almost three stones overweight against Napoli.
The Light Blues crashed 3-0 to the Serie A leaders as their miserable Champions League campaign continued.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have lost all five games, conceding 19 goals and scoring just once.
Morelos started on his own up front at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but cut a frustrated figure and missed an open goal in the second-half.
And Nela – who is in the Roma Hall of Fame and played for Italy at the 1986 World Cup Finals – was far from impressed at Morelos’ condition.
He compared him extremely unflatteringly to his international countryman, Atalanta, and Colombia striker Luis Muriel.
Nela, now a respected TV pundit in his homeland, said: “I watched Napoli play against Rangers.
“They played with a centre-forward called Morelos, who looked like a fattened Luis Muriel.
“It was like watching Muriel with an extra 18 kilograms.”
Nela, who also played for Napoli, reckons that the alleged extra weight – which converts to 2.83 stones – didn’t help Morelos when he was up against South Korea defender Kim Min-jae.
He said: “It was like watching a match with a satellite delay. Kim was five seconds ahead of Morelos everywhere.”
▪ Former Rangers player-manager Graeme Souness believes the Old Firm could realise their dream of playing in the English Premier League by sharing a 100,000-seater stadium.
The 69-year-old Scotland legend has been annoyed by the pair’s performances in the Champions League, and sees the radical move as a means of making an impact both in Europe and down south.
Souness said: “It has been a dire Champions League campaign for the two Glasgow clubs. It is a disappointment for Scottish football, and people ask me why they are uncompetitive.
“I live in Bournemouth, where the club has an 11,000-seater stadium but play in the Premier League on the back of annual TV income upwards of £90 million.
“Celtic and Rangers are huge clubs, with massive fan bases and capacities in excess of 50,000. But their TV money is about £2m-£3m a year.
“So there is your answer. If they agreed to build a shared 100,000-capacity stadium, and joined the EPL, they would soon be top-half clubs.
“I would have them down here in a heartbeat.
“The rest of Scottish football would not collapse. It would simply have to find its own level.”