Serie A: Spezia-Napoli, formations – Sport

Spezia-Napoli on the pitch on Sunday at 12.30

Overwhelmed Juventus, beaten Roma, extended the break to +13 points over Inter and +15 over Lazio, Atalanta and Milan. For Napoli, the second round offers a four-of-a-kind match without direct top clashes: it starts with the match at Spezia, which has 35 points less, is fighting for salvation but – warns the Napoli coach – it should not be underestimated. In fact, Spalletti is only looking at the Peak, ignoring the Milan derby, the result of which could give the Neapolitans a further extension in the standings. “The trap match – explains the blue coach speaking of the Ligurian away match – exists if we make speeches about easy victories. I don’t turn my attention to the Milan derby, but to Spezia, because I know they are interested in the safety points they deserve to the history of the club and the city. I’ve been there and I know how much time they dedicate to the team. They are good at dribbling, they have fast and technical players in ball possession, they know how to gain ground quickly, they have got a quick striker. We must know how to anticipate, play the game but at the same time be quick to run backwards on their sudden verticalizations”. Clear ideas of those who remember that Napoli at the beginning of the season has already suffered against the Ligurian team, winning 1-0 at Maradona with a goal from Raspadori 10′ from the end after having slammed for a long time against the defense of Spezia and also risking conceding the goal on a blunder between Rui and Meret. Raspadori starts on the bench, with Osimhen who wants to extend his lead in the scorers chart in which he is at 14, but the former Sassuolo and Simeone are always ready to enter to unlock the matches. All ready for the match in La Spezia, except the fans, stopped by Daspo, who Spalletti is missing a lot: “The footballer on the pitch – he explains – has one ear for the coaches’ instructions and the other ear for the incitement of the stadium and the corner. If it’s missing, it’s a difficulty, if we had had our corner in La Spezia we would have been stronger”. A silence that makes football less beautiful for those like the blue coach who instead want to experience enthusiasm: “That’s why we think – he said – of training soon at Maradona too, also to show the fans who plays less but deserves the same attention. I know that we have a roster of players who train seriously, just look at the month of January: many said that we would decrease, we knew that difficulties can be overcome with well-executed training sessions, with rhythm, which brought the results of January”. Seriousness is needed in La Spezia, then with Cremonese, in Sassuolo and Empoli. The rhythm must be kept: “Only results are capable – says the coach – of writing history, for this we must continue to do them. There are five other teams in the top six of the standings that can start a path like ours and if we slow down At the start of the season, nobody thought we’d finish the first leg on 50 points, but there are still 54 points available, it’s too early to make things happen.” We must continue to build without getting distracted, starting with La Spezia.

Probable formations

Spezia (3-5-2): 69 Dragowski, 27 Amian, 29 Caldara, 43 Nikolaou, 2 Holm, 6 Bourabia, 4 Ampadu, 33 Agudelo, 13 Reca, 30 Maldini, 14 Shomurodov. (22 Marchetti, 40 Zovko, 7 Sala, 10 Green, 16 Beck, 19 Krollis, 21 Ferrer, 25 Esposito, 55 Wisniewski, 72 Cipot). All.: Gotti. Qualifications: Glass. Difficulties: Ampadu, Bastoni, Caldara, Ekdal, Nzola. Unavailable: Zoet, Bastoni, Kovalenko, Ekdal, Zurkowski, Moutinho, Nzola.

Naples (4-3-3): 1 Meret, 22 Di Lorenzo, 3 Kim Min-Jae, 33 Rrahmani, 6 Rui, 20 Zielinski, 68 Lobotka, 99 Anguissa, 21 Politano, 9 Osimhen, 77 Kvaratskhelia. (95 Gollini, 12 Marfella, 19 Bereszynski, 55 Ostigard, 5 Juan Jesus, 17 Olivera, 23 Zerbin, 91 Ndombele, 4 Demme, 70 Gaetano, 7 Elmas, 81 Raspadori, 11 Lozano, 18 Simeone). Herds Spalletti Disqualified: none Be warned: Kim Min-Jae Unavailable: none Referee: Di Bello from Brindisi Snai Odds: 8.00; 5.00; 1.37.