Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 8y

Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne ruled out of Italy Euro 2016 qualifiers

Italy have announced that Lorenzo Insigne will miss the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers with a knee injury.

Italy face Azerbaijan away on Saturday before hosting Norway or Tuesday, but Napoli forward Insigne will play no part in the games

The head of the Azzurri's medical staff, Prof. Castellacci, had said earlier on Wednesday that the injury was "nothing serious."

"Insigne has suffered some knocks to his right knee, which still had some liquid in it," he added on the Italian national team's official website.

"We removed this liquid today, with the agreement of his club Napoli."

Italy are currently top of Euro 2016 qualification group H and need to win one of their two remaining games to ensure their place at the finals in France.

Insigne's absence is a setback for the country as he has been in excellent form this season.

The 24-year-old, who inspired his side to a 4-0 win at AC Milan at the weekend, told a news conference prior to the injury news that he wanted the Napoli fans to stop comparing him to club legend Diego Maradona.

"Let's leave Maradona in peace," Naples-born Insigne said. "He's the greatest of all time, let's not forget that."

However, he said he might be open to wearing the No. 10 shirt, which has been retired in Maradona's honour.

"If one day the club were to decide to allocate that shirt to somebody again, then of course I'd think about it," he said. "It would be a huge burden to carry, but at the same time it would be a fantastic emotion."

Napoli have not won the Serie A title since 1990, when Maradona was still at the club, and Insigne has tried to dampen fans' expectations of a repeat this season.

"It's still too soon to talk about the Scudetto," he said. "Let's be careful. Having said this, we're going to try [to win it] to the very end."

Insigne's agent had suggested the player could leave during the summer after having had limited playing time, but the forward said: "It's true, I've had problems here in the past, but let's be clear on one thing -- I never once thought about leaving Napoli.

"At times, I've reacted badly, but this was because of personal issues. I wanted to do better and I wasn't managing it."

Gianfranco Zola, who wore the No. 10 shirt during his time at Napoli, said Insigne is now managing things better.

"Insigne does have something of Maradona about him," Zola told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "He has that ability to move the ball while at the same time seeing where his teammates are going.

"He moves it while he's already thinking who to give it to. I also see a lot of myself in him, aside from the physical attributes. I never liked to keep the ball still either and I also liked to keep things moving, and quickly."

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