Roma President James Pallotta asked what Napoli boss Aurelio De Laurentiis is smoking after he suggested the Giallorossi are owned by Liverpool.
The Partenopei chief raised eyebrows on Friday, questioning whether the two clubs have the same owners and therefore shouldn’t be in the Champions League together.
“I’ve always had the suspicion that Roma’s real owners are the same as Liverpool,” he told Corriere dello Sport.
“A little bird told me that a few years ago, and if that were the case the two clubs couldn’t even participate in the Champions League.”
The two clubs have made transfer headlines in recent years, with Mohamed Salah joining Liverpool from Roma last summer and Alisson making the same trip recently.
Pallotta: ‘What do you think @ADeLaurentiis is smoking over there in Naples? If he finds that little bird again, he’ll find out we also own Barca and Bayern’ ?
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 17, 2018
That has clearly pushed De Laurentiis to question the link between Pallotta and Fenway Sports Group – who own Liverpool – and the Roma boss hit back in sarcastic fashion.
“What do you think De Laurentiis is smoking over there in Naples?,” he responded via Twitter. “If he finds that little bird again, he’ll find out we also own Barca and Bayern.”
Roma open their Serie A campaign away to Torino on Sunday.
