For the non-smokers around us life has been much better since 2007 but for Maurizio Sarri things aren't good when he can't smoke. Fortunately for him RB Leipzig have created a new room for him to smoke in on Thursday.
It's nearly 11 years ago that the UK decided that people could no longer smoke inside unless they were in the comfort of their home. Soon pubs and clubs stopped smelling of smoke and started smelling of sweaty pits and stale beer and we weren't sure what we preferred.
Advert
For those watching football that must be a real problem, the most stressed you can be is watching your team in a pub and then you've got to nip outside and miss some of the action, there must be people biting past their nails and onto the bone of their fingers.
Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri must find it especially hard as a manager if he can't light up during the game and it's not like he can just go outside during half-time, he's got team talks.
Fortunately for him when his side take on RB Leipzig in the Europa League tomorrow the Bundesliga side have sorted him out. They've built a temporary wall in the away changing room to split the physio area and allow him space to smoke pre kick off and at half and full time:
The wall is 3.5 meters high and 3 meters wide and has reportedly been paid for by the Serie A club whilst at request of their guests the smoking detectors in the changing room have also been switched off.
Advert
Managers in Italy were allowed to smoke on the bench up to around 2004 with Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi being amongst infamous smokers in Italian dugouts before it was no longer legal.
The German's are 3-1 up after the first leg so Sarri will be hoping that he doesn't need to light up as often as he probably wanted to in the first leg but at least he has a room for it now.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Maurizio Sarri, Europa League, Napoli, RB Leipzig
