Naples (Italy) (AFP)

They will discover the Champions League directly in the 8th final box: the coaches of Naples and Barcelona Gennaro Gattuso and Quique Setién are novices of the C1, called to lead their teams where others have brought them.

The Champions League was the only happy parenthesis in the painful end of the mandate of Carlo Ancelotti in Naples, come out undefeated from a group which also welcomed the defending champion Liverpool.

But "Carletto" did not resist the bad results recorded in the league and the deteriorated atmosphere within the group and he had to leave the reins to Gattuso, his former midfielder at AC Milan.

"I have to thank the team and Carlo. Because I did nothing to play this round of 16," said the Italian technician at a press conference on Monday.

The Champions League, Gattuso knows. But as a player. In the rossonero jersey, he played three finals, two won in 2003 and 2007, one lost in 2005.

- Sacrifices -

His coaching journey is younger and more modest. But it is already useful for him to prepare a poster as prestigious as that of Tuesday.

"This morning I got up and thought about what I had done in Palermo, Pisa, Sion and all the sacrifices made to get there. I don't need to think about the player Gattuso, I would rather think of the coach Gattuso, "he said.

The recent results prove him rather right, with six wins in the last five matches, Serie A and Italian Cup combined, and by the way the scalps of Juventus, Lazio Rome and Inter Milan, the three leaders of the championship.

"From the first day, Gattuso knew how to motivate us. We felt his confidence and we followed him immediately. He keeps us constantly motivated and that's what it takes. He has a great experience as a player and then as coach ", testified on Monday his captain Lorenzo Insigne.

On the next bench, Gattuso will find another Champions League beginner on Tuesday in the person of Quique Setién, whom the Italian praised.

"I watched him a lot, in Las Palmas, at Betis Sevilla. I have great respect for him, he's a very great coach. And I see again with him the Barcelona that we haven't seen for a year and half, two years, "said Gattuso.

- Passionate about chess -

At 61, experience in the Champions League of Spanish is zero and he too took over a team already qualified by his predecessor, Ernesto Valverde.

But when he coached Betis Seville, Setién had managed to hoist the club to a 6th place in La Liga, synonymous with qualification for the Europa League.

The European experience will come to an end, and Betis will fall from the 16th round against Rennes (3-3, 1-3).

This lack of benchmarks on the continental level is one of his only tasks on the CV of the tactician from Santander (Cantabria), passionate about chess, who was propelled to the Barça bench in January after the ouster of Valverde.

And this first major European meeting is the first real test for Setién, who has already experienced two defeats since his arrival and discovered a complicated environment.

"All that interests me is football," insists however the technician since his arrival to forget the successive crises that shake Barça in 2020.

By registering a quadruple against Eibar last weekend, Lionel Messi has also helped to ward off the crisis.

But while the club blaugrana runs after a final of the Champions League since 2015, a setback in Naples would be synonymous with a new snorkeling for Setién and his group. Especially since a Clasico against Real Madrid is planned for the weekend.

© 2020 AFP