CorSport – Napoli, a true Conte masterstroke…

Napoli dominated Juve just as Inter had done with Como the day before. They are the title contenders; I didn’t need any confirmation—I’ve thought so from day one—to the point that if in May the scudetto were to go to a third team, I would certainly call it a feat.

Conte allowed Spalletti only one real chance, just one in 95 minutes: Yildiz’s quality managed to turn it into the goal that stunned the Maradona for a few minutes.

Rarely this year have I seen such a convincing, clear-headed, dominant Napoli . The perfect half? Their first half (the opening fifteen minutes were outstanding), considering not only the nominal value of the opponent: they were significantly superior in aggression, ball recovery, build-up, pursuit of the lead (which they achieved immediately), initiative—and here a special mention goes to David Neres , who drove Cabal and Koopmeiners, who were supposed to contain him, crazy, excelling in at least five one-on-one situations. And even two and three.

Still in the first 45 minutes, Juve suffered badly in midfield and up front they were practically non-existent, just a couple of initiatives from Yildiz, whom Spalletti had asked to shoulder the attack.

The “not only” mentioned above is easily (re)explained: for weeks Conte has been playing with two-thirds of Napoli ; yesterday he was missing De Bruyne, Meret, Lobotka, Gilmour, Anguissa, Gutierrez, and of course Lukaku.

However, I do not overlook Spalletti’s two heavy absences: Bremer and Vlahovic have no credible alternatives, while Gatti, the other injured player, does not seem to have the coach’s trust.

A true masterpiece by Antonio: resource optimization and knowledge. Spalletti—with an inferior squad—tried to invest in ideas, but this time they didn’t work, also due to Napoli’s superior energy: I’m thinking, for example, of the theoretical double marking on Neres I mentioned, the lightweight attack fielded for a half, and the substitution of Yildiz in the final minutes, that is, just before Hojlund scored the second goal. I insist on saying that Koopmeiners on the left among the back three is a lost cause. And that this Juve never gives the impression of being able to win, and I’m not referring exclusively to the match against Napoli .

Luciano’s return to Napoli can be summed up in a few facial expressions: he seemed afflicted by a temporary inferiority complex.

Carlo Gioia

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.