It’s not Maradona’s squadron, but the leaders take advantage of the chain mistakes of direct rivals both on and off the pitch
You see Naples and then… you bite your hands. The first in the class dazzles and runs away, beautiful and seductive, good at taking advantage of the ugliness of her direct rivals. Milan and Inter aim for the second star, Juve would like to give the tricolor to the Agnelli family to celebrate the centenary of the property.
All three to macerate between regrets and breakthroughs on and off the field: whoever is without sin, throw the first title. Nobody is saved. The leaders get the maximum possible. A collective that in each of its components tries to make sense of the movements and ideas of his talents. Napoli were also in command a year ago, now they are meshing without senators such as Koulibaly, Insigne and Mertens. That said, be careful not to get caught up in the usual temptation: the orchestra led by Maradona was out of category for many Italian dream teams. Witness the championships, two not one, in 1987 and 1990, won against rivals who lined up Platini, Van Basten, Gullit, Matthäus, Baggio, just to mention the Golden Balls. Spalletti and him have already legitimized the applause abroad too, with 15 points in the Champions League against Liverpool, Ajax, anything but mattress teams, and Rangers. What more could you ask for? Nothing for the Azzurri, if anything for the chasing competitors.
PURSUERS
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Are Milan, Inter and Juve sure they have nothing to reproach themselves for? Would they do it all again, absolutely everything? Defending champions no longer raise their heads. Out in the Italian Cup with the extra man for about an hour with Turin at home, in two points with Rome and Lecce: the clear feeling is that the Devil has turned away. Giroud and Theo are in a debt of oxygen after Qatar, which was there, albeit with different burdens, for everyone. Summer reinforcements don’t help Pioli. The 2022 exploit has been traded as a return to normal. The focus was on lower-end grafts, the magic has vanished. If I add zero to 11 I get 11, not 20 like last year, with flair, courage and luck.
RISKY 1-0
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The neighbors, fresh from a narrow 1-0 at San Siro, can’t absolve themselves either. The game didn’t take off: compared to a year ago, a less entertaining Inter camped out in third place and hoped at least to stay there. Given the financial situation, placement in the Champions League is vital. We get by, we resort to at least original operations, such as Lukaku’s loan. The Nerazzurri are waiting for the Belgian to make a definitive change, but there’s no more talk of the loan-encore. For the others, the same goes for Milan: it is necessary to respect sustainability, but one cannot expect to suddenly become a steamroller with Asllani and Bellanova to be weaned. But then: it was known that renewing Gagliardini and buying Correa for 33 million fell into the “gambles” category, in spite of virtuous budgets. Inzaghi’s project is therefore barely advancing, amid a thousand unknowns. Wednesday in Arabia the ugly Milanese seek relief with the Super Cup. Italian, of course. Whoever wins, don’t rest on your laurel grand reserve.
NEW BOD
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It will be an important Wednesday also for Juve, with the inauguration of the new Board of Directors which will have to launch the re-foundation. The umpteenth. For the moment there are fundamental objectives to be achieved. They give Allegri a high five which reminds him that you don’t live on a short face alone: in the future it will be better to go beyond the zero parameters and the elderly champions looking for generous contracts. Di Maria, except for a couple of isolated high notes, doesn’t make a difference. Ditto for the other world champion Paredes. Pogba is still not seen, Kostic has disappeared from the radar. The only ones to give encouraging signs are Bremer, also swept by the hand of Naples, and Milik on loan. Max waits for Vlahovic, in black and white the double of the Fiorentina bomber, and clings to Chiesa, forced to wear himself out even in cover. After Saturday, the comeback is a grade six climb. Everyone chasing, forbidden to make mistakes again. Great merits to Napoli, but great faults for the great ones.
January 16, 2023 (change January 16, 2023 | 08:32)
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