If the last months of 2022 and the first months of 2023 were ones of caution, today Napoli is not putting a stop to the madness that has been unleashed through the streets of the Campania capital.
With a 19-point lead over second-placed Lazio, the third Scudetto in the history of the Neapolitans is almost a reality… and now it’s simply a matter of setting a date for the day that will be celebrated 33 years after the last league title.
From Maradona, Ciro Ferrara and Carnevale to Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia and Min-Jae Kim, this is a more international team that, at the same time, dreams of surpassing its predecessors: the Champions League, an increasingly real utopia.
For Napoli it has been a week of joy and good news. It all began with a 3-0 win over Eintracht in the second leg (5-0 on aggregate) and a place in the first Champions League quarter-finals in their history.
Akind draw on the road to Istanbul on the road to Istanbul and a 4-0 win in Turin: 0-4 to Toro.
“They massacred us,” confessed Ivan Juric, coach of Torino, after Sunday’s thrashing at the Olimpico. One by one, practically all the teams in Italy (and Europe) are capitulating to this Napoli side.
Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia, Lobotka, Meret, Min-Jae, Di Lorenzo, Anguissa, Lozano, Politano… a string of names and surnames that are now being repeated in the same breath when, not long ago, some of them were unheard of.
Napoli’s hunger
“It was said that we would have problems after the World Cup break…”, coach Luciano Spalletti commented with irony this weekend at a press conference.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Since the end of the tournament in Qatar, in fact, Napoli have only lost two games: Internazionale (1-0) and Lazio (0-1).
Two ‘isolated accidents’ that were based on defensive masterclasses by their opponents… and with a Napoli somewhat disconnected on both occasions.
Luciano Spalletti, en el banquillo del Napoli.
On top of that, Napoli were eliminated in the Coppa Italia against Cremonese (on penalties), in a match which featured a weakened line-up.
However, the main merit of this team is consistency. Consistency. It does not fail. This season, 30 wins in 35 matches.
No one in Europe matches such figures and it is legitimate to wonder if it will be the best champion in the history of Italian soccer.
For now, Antonio Conte’s Juventus 2013/14 team has set that record: 102 points with just three draws and two defeats, finishing 17 points clear of second-placed Roma.
But the record that Napoli has most in its sights, right now, is that of precocity: to be the ‘earliest’ Italian champion in history.
The goal is to win the Scudetto with at least five matchdays to go and the 19 points that Napoli has over Lazio (just over six matches ahead of them) suggest that they will beat it.
El once ideal del Napoli esta temporada.
Moreover, Serie A is the perfect way for the team to reach peak performance for the Champions League matches.
Unlike others (Milan, Inter…), who have to mix both competitions being their priority, Napoli and Spalletti have found the formula.
Spalletti’s work
Every press conference given by Spalletti (Certaldo, Italy, 1959) is a gift for the spectator.
A didactic coach who likes to talk and who uses a multitude of metaphors and allegories to illustrate his explanations.
This Napoli, at last, is his masterpiece.
Spalletti just turned 64 on March 7 and is a veteran coach who has struggled to find recognition, even now.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen get the spotlight but they, in every interview, give the spotlight back to the Tuscan coach.
“Spalletti always pushes me to give my best, he is a very good coach,” Osimhen confessed weeks ago in an interview.
Los jugadores del Napoli celebran un gol.
“He wants every player to be able to express himself in the best possible way.”
Udinese, Roma, Zenit, Inter… a monumental row with Francesco Totti, a style of soccer with results but too pragmatic, a departure to Russia that took him out of the spotlight… Spalletti’s career is full of ups and downs.
As a footballer he was not in the spotlight, as a coach he is closing in on his greatest achievement.
“They want to be something, to be someone,” Spalletti said in Sunday’s press conference.
“There is a Neapolitan saying: ‘Whoever is hungry is not sleepy’. That sums up our team.”
“I’m ready to do anything for Napoli,” he confessed in another press conference last Saturday.
A few hours later, in Turin, he brought out his first-choice eleven… for the umpteenth time.
If anyone thought that a ‘Scudetto’ that had been sentenced for weeks was going to cause the Italian coach to introduce rotations, they are mistaken.
Spalletti keeps the players on their toes… and does not introduce the usual changes until the game is well underway.
La edad de la plantilla del Napoli. La ptima es 24-30 aos.
Success is based on his 4-2-3-1, starting with goalkeeper who has regained all his lost level overnight as in the summer, Alex Meret was almost out… and Keylor Navas was on his way in.
He is now competing with Donnarumma for the Italy starting line-up, and is protected by a defense that borders on excellence.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo, the captain, is the best right back in ‘Calcio’, Min-Jae Kim has already made fans forget Kalidou Koulibaly… and Amir Rrahmani or Mario Rui play the role of back-up players.
“I have seen few players in my life and career with the skills and qualities of Min-jae Kim,” confessed Spalleti in Turin this Sunday, after the umpteenth display of the Korean.
Kvaratskhelia y Osimhen.
“He’s amazing, always aggressive, he deserves to start every game… but look at Di Lorenzo too: he’s a superior player,. We are not just Kvara & Osimhen.”
Up front, Stanislav Lobotka (recently renewed until 2027) has established himself as a top-level playmaker and is on his way to becoming the MVP among Serie A midfielders.
He is a metronome who does not miss a pass and controls the tempo of the match at will.
Frank Anguissa and Piotr Zielinski, each with their own characteristics, are the perfect midfield partners… and then comes the ‘show’: while the right flank oscillates between Matteo Politano and Hirving Lozano, Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen have conquered the world from their Napoli throne.
“Spalletti is a master, a strategist”, says Arrigo Sacchi in ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, surrendering to a Spalletti who has completed the ‘reconstruction’ of Italian soccer.
Taking the baton of a change initiated by Gian Piero Gasperini in Bergamo, when the Napoli coach speaks, he does not talk about systems, 4-2-3-1, wingers, midfielders or strikers.
He talks about a game of spaces, occupation of spaces, interchange of positions and freedom of the talent at his disposal.
His Napoli is a ‘free’ team that enjoys playing on the field… as they show in every match.
A squad at its prime
One record that Napoli will not break is that of Milan 2021/22 when Stefano Pioli‘s side were the youngest team in the three-point era (since 1994/95) to win the ‘Scudetto’.
However, this is a very mature Napoli that is proving to be ready for Serie A… and the Champions League, something that Milan failed to achieve.
As this chart shows, Napoli has put together a squad in which almost all of its players are in the ‘ideal range’ in terms of age and maturity (24-30 years old).
Of the starters, only Mario Rui is among the ‘veterans’ and Kvaratskhelia among the ‘youngsters’.
The Georgian, as we already know, has surpassed all expectations with how quickly he has adapted.
With 12 goals and 10 assists in this Serie A he is the first player with at least 10 goals and 10 assists in his first season in the top five European leagues since Diego in 2006/07 (13 goals and 13 assists with Werder Bremen).
Undoubtedly, having assembled a squad with an average age of 26.1 years allows Spalletti to take advantage of two points: to squeeze a team with a lot of travel and miles ahead of it and at the same time not to err on the side of youth and inexperience on certain occasions.
De Laurentiis posa con Osimhen.
A perfect transfer market
But let’s go back to the summer of 2022… As Napoli acknowledged, this season looked like a year of transition, to, if anything, fight for the Champions League places.
Milan was back (reigning ‘Scudetto’ champion), Internazionale was reinforced with Romelu Lukaku and Juventus did not win two years in a row. Or so it was thought in Italy.
Napoli, meanwhile, put an end to the last vestiges of ‘Sarrismo’: Fabian Ruiz, Koulibaly, Dries Mertens, David Ospina, Faouzi Ghoulam, Lorenzo Insigne … a parade of key players left to reshape the squad of a Spalletti who, remember, fought for the Serie A 2022/23 with Milan and Inter until the end.
“The season was a total incognita, Napoli was losing ‘senators’ of the dressing room and players of great quality… replacing them with players that very few knew like Kim and Kvaratskhelia”, Davide Palliggiano, a journalist for ‘Corriere dello Sport’ tells MARCA.
“The primary objective was to fight for a place in the Champions League…. playing for the ‘Scudetto’ seemed almost unrealistic.”
With a ‘discreet’ budget, Cristiano Guintoli (Sporting Director) accepted Aurelio De Laurentiis‘ challenge and got down to work: the signing of Kvaratskhelia was tied up in the spring for just 11.5 million, Min-Jae arrived from Fenerbahce, Matias Olivera was a done deal months ago.
Giacomo Raspadori, Tanguy Ndombele and Gio Simeone rounded out a squad that, as the passage of time has shown, has been key in maintaining the positive dynamic of the team.
Exemplary accounts
This season De Laurentiis is living life as if it were one of his movies.
The film producer, who ‘rescued’ Napoli from bankruptcy at the turn of the century, celebrates every weekend from the box at the Stadio Maradona, and all with an exemplary management.
He has known how to bide his time, without going crazy, without exceeding the expenses that a team like Napoli (less revenue than the teams in northern Italy) can afford.
“We have no debts to banks,” he boasted in 2019, before the pandemic.
Something that has changed with the earthquake that hit world soccer, and especially a ‘Calcio’ which was hit financially.
As specified by ‘Calcio e Finanza’, Napoli recorded losses of 52 million in the last financial year.
These figures, however, are much lower than the massive red figures accumulated by clubs such as Juventus, Inter and Roma.
In 2021/22, Napoli signed two loans with Unicredit for a total of 50 million, the first debts with banks that the Neapolitan club has recorded in its financial statements since 2007… but the net financial debt is instead positive: 55 million.
Something that continues to speak well of the Roman entrepreneur’s management because the means at his disposal are clearly inferior to those of his rivals from Piedmont or Lombardy.
To give an example, Napoli‘s commercial and sponsorship revenues in 2022 amounted to 37.2 million … and the team has four brands reflected on the shirt, the maximum allowed in Italy.
Inter earns 81.7 million in this regard, and Juventus, even more, and yet, that difference doesn’t scare De Laurentiis.
“We don’t need to sell,” he says when asked about offers that will come in for Osimhen or Kvaratskhelia.
“But if there are crazy offers, you never know…” he adds, inviting teams to overcome a barrier that already seems set at 150 million for each of their stars.
#Serie #secrets #Napoli #team #dreaming #winning #Champions #League