the limit is the azure sky

Iván Hegyi;

foci; Serie A; Naples;

2023-05-28 17:45:00

After thirty-three long years, the unfortunate Neapolitans won the championship gold medal with a disarming advantage.

Napoli have the most wins (27) and the fewest defeats (4); the southern team scored the most goals (73) and conceded the fewest (26); his advantage at the top of Serie A is no less than 18 points.

It doesn’t get any smoother than that to win a gold medal.

The supremacy in the autumn season was downright oppressive: the irresistible Napoli won 13 of their first 15 league meetings, and drew two of them. Corriere dello Sport wrote of the team’s play: “The great beauty.”

Thirty-two or thirty-three years after Napoli last won the scudetto – under the leadership of the divine Diego Maradona and with the expert help of Ciro Ferrara, Fernando de Napoli, Andrea Carnevale, Gianfranco Zola, Alemão, Careca – the 21-year-old Georgian named Hvicsa Kvaracheli Kvaradona the local audience.

And after the 5-1 win against Juventus on January 13, the people of Naples greeted each other with “cinque-a-uno”.

A folktale story has been brought to life, because “down there” it is believed that in the despised South, every first place is equal to 10 Northern Italian triumphs. Napoli, champions for only the third time, were not given much of a chance to succeed, as Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne left before the start of the season.

But master Luciano Spalletti brought out of the frame even what few would have thought was in it. Such an overwhelming dominance could not be imagined, in addition to “great beauty” one can safely mention “great blueness”.

List of unlimited reigners: Meret (appeared in 30 league games, according to Football Italia he deserves a grade of 9 for his performance throughout the season) – Di Lorenzo (31/8), Rrahmani (23/8), Kim Min-jae (30/ 9), Olivera (24/7) or Mario Rui (21/7.5) – Anguissa (29/8.5), Lobotka (31/9), Zielinski (30/8) – Lozano (29/7.5 ), Osimhen (25/10), Kvarchelija (27/10). The team was supplemented with Elmas (30/7.5), Ndombele (28/6.5), Politano (25/7.5), Raspadori (19/7.5), Giovanni Simeone (19/7), sometimes Juan Jesus (11/7), and at most caused pain to himself and his fans by losing to Milan in the Italian quarter-finals of the Champions League (0-1, 1-1).

However, before that, the BL balance was seven wins, one defeat, a goal difference of 25-6, the team defeated Liverpool 4-1 and Ajax 6-1…

More recently, the fact that the whole of Europe has turned its attention to Napoli’s squad can also make a difference. The contracts of Alex Meret and Amir Rrahmani expire in 2024, which means that both footballers should be sold now or – not exactly by tinkering with change – extend both footballers, and there are plenty of other challenges: Stanislav Lobotka, especially Kvarachelija, has become a peaceful international target, while Kim Min-jeet and Osimhen from Manchester, André Anguissa from Liverpool, Zielinski from Newcastle.

In addition, the relationship between the film producer and club president Aurelio de Laurentiis and the coach Spalletti, who also received the maximum 10 from Football Italia, has deteriorated, and there is still no agreement with the manager for the next season to the extent that La Gazzetta dello Sport knows that it will not happen. In any case, the coach noted: “In my profession, you have to be ready to suddenly change destinations and tickets.”

The pampered Neapolitan camp can therefore worry. Even if Spalletti were to stay, the ranks could thin out. Well, even if it went!

The average domestic audience of the champion team is 45,310. This is good for fourth place in Serie A, as Internazionale produces an average of 72,655, Milan 71,868, and AS Roma 62,032.

Don’t think of comparing it with the county NB I!

Spalletti accepted the first league title of his coaching career with due restraint. He painted his Fiat Panda as “strong people, strong destinies”, and supported this with his statement: “Those who are used to always working hard have no time for happiness. They know: intoxication is temporary. I just won, okay, but I’m already anxious about the next task. This mentality always takes away something. True, at present it adds, not a little, the joy of the people of Naples. In this city, I got much more than I gave.”

When asked about the style of the championship team, he replied: “Timeless.” It may rightfully have risen, among other things, because the total value of its footballers has jumped over 600 million euros.

The limit is the azure sky.