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Football in Serie A: a hurricane called Napoli shakes Juventus

It could also have been tight, one of those tactical and philosophical neutralization numbers that nobody enjoys. Something for schematics. That’s how it was imagined before the top game SSC Naples against Juventus Turin, the anticipated finalissima halfway through the championship between the first and second in Serie A. Naples’ light Bellezza against Juve’s cynical efficiency. It was even said that a goal would probably only come in the last few minutes, here or there. When the parades are then once flagged.

Well, it came very differently, it came very thick, very loud, rock’n’roll. 5:1 Naples, a thousand colors, as in Pino Daniele’s song.

And one can finally ask oneself whether it might be enough this time, 33 years after Naples’ last Scudetto so far. However, the Neapolitans themselves would never talk like that, it brings bad luck, they are very superstitious. Luciano Spalletti, the coach of the southern Italians, said it was probably the best night since he worked in Naples.

You have to know that this Spalletti otherwise likes to resort to psychologically motivated understatements: before games he prefers to talk up his opponents, he did it again with Juventus. Before the showdown at the Stadio Maradona, Turin had won eight times in a row and had not conceded a single goal. Zero. Gianluigi Buffon’s all-time record seemed to be in jeopardy as the keeper went unbeaten for almost a thousand minutes.

Italy’s media celebrate a fantastic team from Naples

And then this! It was an “irresistible show”, writes the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera. The Roman Republic saw the “new monsters” at work, so dominant, so overwhelming. For the Gazzetta dello Sport went a “hurricane” over the Juve. But perhaps the more scholastic metaphors are more appropriate. the Journal distributes grades: “Napoli 10 e lode”, Naples cum laude. Massimiliano Allegri, Juve’s coach, a mason in front of the Lord, maestro of “Unozerismo”, the eternal 1-0, got a “lesson”. Allegri and Spalletti are thesis and antithesis, minimalism versus opulence. And if you like football when it’s performed collectively and composed, you’re bound to have a weakness for Naples.

Maybe then we should talk more about Stanislaw Lobotka, the Slovak in the direction, low gravitational point: He makes the game so fast in the transition that the opposing defense thinks it is in constant overthrow. Every pass is there, Lobotka again had a quota of 94 percent of successful passes. His neighbor Anguissa also deserves an honorable mention, he stabilizes the whole department with his sense of balance. But of course all light falls on the symbiosis of the strike duo, this combo of the Nigerian Victor Osimhen and the young Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

They call him “Kvaradona”: Naples’ Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

(Photo: CIRO DE LUCA/REUTERS)

Osimhen is a force of nature, one who always pushes his head with the protective mask in front of the defender’s head in an aerial duel. Above all, unlike many nines, he is not afraid of space: if a prairie opens up in front of him, he takes it, on a good day a bit like Kylian Mbappé. If he hits, he tears his mask off his face, you should see his laughter. A small message to the world also wanted to get rid of Kvaratskhelia.

In the past two games he hadn’t been quite as inspired as before, an octave below the usual level. But against Juve he was there again, with velvet balls, with flights down the left wing, with that youthful carefreeness of a predestined one who knows that he is predestined. While celebrating his goal, which made it 2-0 in the 39th minute, he held his index finger in front of his mouth to silence the critics who had already raised their voices. In Italy it always goes very quickly. Then he made a gesture with both hands that was supposed to say: Take it easy, give me time, you’re not wrong about me. He’s only 21 years old.

5:1 In the sum “a shipment”, finds The print from Turin, quite prosaically. This time the bunker simply went under. The newspaper is owned by the Agnellis, the owners of Juventus. Was it already with the Italian championship? At the sound of this question alone, the Neapolitans reflexively grab their crotch.

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