Taking a look at coaches who have excelled in European football this season

#3 Maurizio Sarri (SSC Napoli)

Sarri is leading an exciting Napoli side to mount its first genuine title challenge in years

Few teams are operating at the level that Sarri’s Gli Azzurri are currently operating and all credit is due to the wily tactician.

Keeping possession while circulating the ball in a quick and precise manner has become the hallmark of this Napoli team with the forwards attacking at breakneck speed and always pushing the opposition onto the backfoot.

This becomes even more remarkable given the lack of significant investment in the summer’s transfer window with young winger Andre Ounas (Bordeaux) the only purchase.

A lot of teams especially the big ones would suffer if their top striker with an extended injury lay-off but Napoli have coped magnificently with the loss of Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik.

Sarri’s influence is all over the team and while his insistence on the all-round action football takes a lot out of his players and leads to quite a number of injuries, his players are among the fittest in Europe and this helps them to outlast opponents who are less fit over the course of 90 minutes.

A hard taskmaster who demands perfection from his players in everything they do, he has led the Neapolitans to the top of the Serie A table and while they may be faint, there are whispers among the Partenopei faithful about a first Scudetto title since the heady days of the Diego Maradona era.