In the most superstitious city in Italy they still can't believe it. Napoli have just won their third scudetto. And it does so after a long wait of 33 years, the first Serie A championship title since Diego Armando Maradona played for the Parthenopean club. After being forced to postpone the celebrations that everyone was waiting for in Naples on Sunday after a draw against Salernitana, tonight they have succeeded.
A draw against Udinese at the Dacia Arena was enough for them to mathematically win the trophy, five days before the end of the championship. The shadow of Sunday's failure has been revived after the locals went ahead with a goal from Lovric in the 14th minute, a goal in the 52nd minute by effective Victor Osimhen has unleashed madness in the Neapolitan streets. It was already done and at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, where some 50,000 tifosi have gathered to watch the game on giant screens, they were just waiting for the end of the game to start the party.
This is going to be a long night in Naples. The authorities have cut traffic tonight in order to control the large celebrations that have been rehearsing for weeks in the city. In this city, football goes far beyond sport. They understand the victory of this scudetto as a kind of social rescue, a revenge of the proud south of the country against the industrialized north that has so often looked down on them. In fact, Napoli's third scudetto in its history – the first two, in 1987 and 1990, were with Maradona – is only the fourth for a team from the south of the transalpine country out of the 118 overall titles of the Series. A. To the three of the Azzurri only Cagliari is added, but in 1970.
For this reason, the starting eleven of this Naples in this city will go down in the popular history books of the city of Buenos Aires. For weeks now, Neapolitans have been defying superstition – the extremely famous Neapolitan scaramanzia – by decking the streets with club flags, blue banners and portraits of their heroes. The shirts in the official store are practically sold out, and only this Sunday they had more than a thousand sold. The most sought after are those of Osimhen and the Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, better known here as Kvaradona, due to his unpronounceable name, the two stars of this team that has led them to glory.
In the squares of Naples, children are already playing ball with the characteristic mask of the Nigerian forward, top scorer in Serie A. On Sunday, a general rehearsal of what is to come, the city was already a party, with horns, flares and rivers of people marching towards the murals of Maradona, already converted into a goal of the local calcio. Nobody here forgets the deeds of the Argentine star. "This is his work, he guided the Argentines to the World Cup and now he guides us from up there," said Jonathan, so young that he did not get to see the first leagues of his team.
Naples thus crowns a season to frame, in which they have reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League, where they fell to Milan. They even managed to beat Juventus in their field, two weeks ago, an important moral blow that allowed them to savor the championship before time. This will undoubtedly be the greatest feat as coach of the pragmatic Luciano Spalletti, who until now had only two Italian Cups and one Super Cup in his country, with Roma. His offensive and enthusiastic play has delighted in a championship with few rivals and Juventus psychologically sunk by the 15-point sanction -already revoked- for the Plusvalías Case.
The other great protagonist of this team is Aurelio De Laurentiis (ADL), the president of the club, a famous Roman film producer who, in 2004, bought a club that had disappeared due to its debts in Serie C, putting 120 million euros on top of it. the table and in three years returned it to Serie A. His face is also printed on the figurines and banners. “This year we have a great club that has bought great players. Our leaders have risen to the cause. De Laurentiis the first, which gives us the chance to aspire to European titles, "said Angelo, a member of a group of ultras, on the way to Maradona.
Now it only remains to know the extent of the festivities that the Neapolitans have promised will be like those of the Argentines when they won the World Cup. They are united by their devotion to Maradona, so much so that they baptized the old San Paolo with his name. The Vesuvius National Park, the volcano that dominates the gulf, has asked the Tifosi to give up their plan to celebrate the victory with fireworks from the crater. The US consulate has issued an alert advising its citizens that the celebrations “could last several days”, with “significant use of fireworks and alcohol”. The party has only just begun.
