The celebrations at San Siro were of relief that runaways Napoli did not enter the World Cup break with a double-digit leadIt was the 91st minute at San Siro when Milan scored the goal that might have rescued the Serie A title race. Technically the Fiorentina defender Nicola Milenkovic scored it for them – deflecting Aster Vranckx’s cross into his own net – but few were dwelling on the fine details as Zombie Nation’s Kernkraft 400, a German dance track older than some players on the pitch, blared out across the public address.A crowd of 73,000 danced and sighed with relief. Milenkovic’s own goal secured a 2-1 win and kept Milan ‘only’ eight points behind Napoli at the top. The...
Which side in Italy can boast a deeper range of options at so many positions? Bologna found this out to their cost“Every match is a voyage into the unknown,” insisted Luciano Spalletti on Saturday, yet his team keep arriving at the same destination. Sometimes the path is bumpy, and sometimes it is smooth, but at the end Napoli always find the three points they were looking for.This weekend brought a 10th consecutive win, extending a sequence that has carried them to first place in Serie A and their Champions League group. On paper, a home game against Bologna – who began the weekend one spot above the relegation zone – looked straightforward. In practice, it was the windiest road yet....
Some big names are gone but the goals of Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia have helped Napoli top the early tableThey have stopped worrying about how to pronounce Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s name in Naples. When the player’s transfer to Napoli was announced in April, one anxious reporter asked Aurelio De Laurentiis for guidance. “I’ll make something up,” replied the club president. “We’ll call him something. He can be ‘Zizì’, that’s not bad.”A more obvious abbreviation was adopted elsewhere, ‘Kvara’ becoming accepted shorthand among journalists and fans. Two Serie A appearances later, however, a new nickname has taken hold. From the alleys of Naples’s Spanish Quarter to the headlines of national newspapers, the Georgian was being hailed on Monday morning as ‘Kvaradona’. Continue...
José Mourinho’s Roma could not deal with Inter’s power while Olivier Giroud once again came to Milan’s rescue at LazioAmid a breathless finish to the Serie A season, spare a thought for your narrators who don’t know where to begin. In Empoli, where Napoli surrendered their title bid by conceding three times in seven minutes to opponents who had not won a game since December? Or at San Siro, where Internazionale thumped a Roma side led by José Mourinho, the man who led them to the treble, and who arrived on a 12-game unbeaten run in the league?Perhaps we should start in Rome, where Milan kept the title race alive with a 91st-minute strike from a 21-year-old midfielder who almost...
Four years on from a famous title-chasing failure against Fiorentina, Napoli allowed history to repeat itselfFour years have passed since Napoli “lost a Scudetto in the hotel”. That was how Maurizio Sarri explained things after his then team was thrashed 3-0 by Fiorentina in April 2018, effectively ending their title bid. They had begun the weekend with hopes of going top of the table but suffered an emotional collapse after watching Juventus come from behind to beat Inter the night before.The Bianconeri trailed that game as late as the 87th minute, despite playing with an extra man for more than an hour. They should have gone down to 10 themselves when Miralem Pjanic, already booked, leapt knee-first into Rafinha at...