The playoff for eighth place ends in a draw.
In what will in all probability (construction times permitting) be the last match of the Curva Fiesole – at least as it appears architecturally today, Fiorentina-Napoli it is in fact above all a play-off for eighth place, the last valid for the Europe called Conference. Minor objective, perhaps not so desirable for Fiorentina at the beginning of 2024, certainly unexpected and depressing for the now former Italian champions, but in any case at least as far as the championship is concerned, the last objective to give meaning to this end of the season. If the final 2-2 doesn’t mathematically close the score (Fiorentina remains at +2, with one game less and the direct clashes in favour), this score strongly smells like a final gloss on the Neapolitans’ season.
There is all the fragility of Napoli in this match, a team light years away from the one that beat Fiorentina at Maradona about a year ago on the day of the championship celebration. A good approach, the lead, a positive first half hour where he showed more quality than the Viola and more ability to act vertically in spaces. Then the total blackout at the end of the half, a game turned against us, caught again with the masterpiece from a free kick by Kvaratskhelia in response to the similar execution by Biraghi, and despite a post (Politano) not definitively overturned. Barring unlikely combinations, the end of the season for the Azzurri will be sad.
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Vincenzo Italiano does the final rehearsals in view of May 29th in Athens. And he probably doesn’t get too reassuring answers, at least in terms of concentration: his going down after just 8 minutes is due to being gored by Rrahmani on a corner. Yet another defensive distraction for the Viola in scoring, but also yet another confirmation of the difficulties precisely in terms of reactivity and concentration of the elements of the back pack, who in the end are often more dangerous (for the lily goalkeeper, of course) precisely when they find themselves defending in your area. But Italiano has rather convincing responses from individuals, perhaps above all M’Bala Nzola even before Biraghi’s hot foot: the Angolan finds the goal of the provisional 2-1 well finalizing an aggressive ball recovery, confirming a bit the feeling that certainly , we are not talking about an irrepressible attacker, but in any case at least partially sabotaged – and explained in his performances – by the negative emotional spiral in which he had gotten himself into. Of course, the lily square is crazy and demanding, and although it has made almost everything go well, it has in recent and less recent times been accustomed to slightly higher standards…
Kvara, always him. Cross and delight. Croce which perhaps seems to carry him more than anything else, seen as the only barrier to a world that fell apart a few months after the third scudetto and the farewells of Giuntoli and Spalletti. The Georgian, far from being inserted into the harmonious context that exalted his characteristics, increasingly seems to be the longed-for and sought-after constant solution of an insecure and at times lost team. A constant pressure that costs him incisiveness and clarity in his performance, however seriously we can talk in these terms about an attacking winger with 11 goals and 6 assists in the league.
If we had to go to points, perhaps this unstable Napoli would have deserved something more than a Fiorentina who was inconsistent for long stretches, whose constant and predominant possession (63%) often translates into terrible difficulties in creating chances and kicking on goal (xG created with 14 shots, half of which from outside the area? Just 0.58). The Viola experimented with more vertical and direct solutions, they tried to vary the score, but in the end it almost seemed like Napoli was taking advantage of Fiorentina’s rising accelerations. The match gained in beauty and pace, but Italiano’s unresolved concerns all remain there. On the other hand, the organization of forward pressure is the real strong point of the Gigliati team, together with their ability to react: Nzola’s goal seems to confirm this. This remains to hold on to in this season finale; It is too late to study yet another remedy and alternative solutions.
2024-05-17 21:29:27
#FiorentinaNapoli #Scattered #Considerations
