Napoli dismissed Donadoni today after a dismal start to the Serie A season and appointed Walter Mazzarri as the new coach.

Lippi, who was speaking at a national team press conference in Coverciano ahead of Italy's World Cup qualifying game against the Republic of Ireland, said: "I am saddened and I express my solidarity towards a coach who has lost his job.

"Besides that, I have nothing further to add."

Donadoni, whose contract with Italy was not extended after their Euro 2008 quarter-final exit, joined Napoli in March on a reported 1.8million euros per year deal, but never showed signs of turning things around at the San Paolo stadium.

A former player at AC Milan, Donadoni led Napoli to just four wins in 17 matches and was shown the door with the club 15th in the standings.

The 47-year-old Mazzarri was an attractive candidate for Napoli after guiding Sampdoria to a sixth-place finish in the 2007-08 campaign.

Last season, he engineered a run to the Coppa Italia final before deciding to leave at the end of the season.

Mazzarri, who coached at Reggina before Sampdoria, will be unveiled tomorrow and is expected to pen down a contract which will keep him at the club until June 2011.

While Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has yet to comment publicly on Mazzarri, Reggina president Pasquale Foti believes the Partenopei have made a good move.

"Walter is a great professional," he said. "I hope he can continue with the positive things he has achieved so far in his career.

"He puts pressure on the group and obtains important results."

Napoli is no ordinary club in Italy with huge crowds turning out for every home game, even when the team was playing in Serie C.

The azzurri club hold the Serie C attendance record with 51,000 at one game.

Former Napoli coach Franco Colomba believes Mazzarri will have his hands full.

"Napoli has certain weaknesses regardless of who is coaching the team," he said. "I believe Mazzarri will have to work hard to fill those voids.

"Napoli is the place that can complete Mazzarri at a professional level but it is a different world, a passionate metropoli, very demanding and he will have to make less mistakes as possible otherwise the pressure will be too much."