Napoli, Osimhen returns as leader: goals and assists before the renewal

Naples, 17 December 2023 - The last piece to try to definitively close the crisis has been placed: win at Maradona also in the championship after doing it in Champions League in the presence of Sporting Braga, also qualifying for the round of 16. The mission was successful, but not without difficulties: in the end, almost as a symbol, il Cagliari of the never tamed ex Leonardo Pavletti fell under the blows of Victor Osimhen e Khvisha Kvaratskhelia, the emblems of last season's championship who are trying to carry the Azzurri on their shoulders to bring them back to the top of the table.

Desire for a comeback (scudetto)

The phrase may seem bold after a rather difficult success at home against a newly promoted team that has so far been kept afloat more by the strength of its veterans and the related goals in the Cesarini area (or Pavoletti) which gives a game worthy of the highest category. Yet, he reiterated the concept with conviction Matteo Politano, as usual one of the liveliest of his team, to the microphones after the match: as long as mathematics allows, the Napoli will continue to aim its sights towards the top of the rankings in the hunt for a second scudetto. Practically the reasoning that, a championship ago, in these times, they began to pursue the Neapolitans, now already relegated to double-digit distances but still eager to try to make a comeback. At the time, the reply from the blue planet, this time with greater attention to the square and the fans than to the experts, who in truth were always focused on the mere facts on the pitch, was bivalent: some people were pleased with these statements, because ultimately they maintained the team concentrated and on tenterhooks in view of the continuation of a still long season, while to someone else they were annoying, because they were considered almost outrageous in relation to the advantage that had been gained by the leaders in the meantime, in turn not considered capable of holding out until the end pressure coming from behind. Even today, with roles reversed, the situation presents itself in a similar way in the Campania capital: on the one hand those who still believe in the possibility of gradually climbing the rankings until reaching Juventus before and Inter then and on the other figure those who, even more so in light of such a wide and unusually rich brawl of outsiders, focus their attention on the hunt for a pass for the next Champions League, for which even fifth place could be valid. Premature speeches and which certainly, for now, do not involve Walter Mazzarri, pragmatic and rational as perhaps never before and, above all, focused on the present: in fact, for a 'ferryman', taking too many flights of fancy would also be a contradiction. Better to think about one obstacle at a time: start with the trap Frosinone in Coppa Italia, a competition that in the recent past has brought more disappointments than joys and we will continue with the examination of Roma, with the Azzurri called upon to return to being decisive in those direct clashes which so far have shaped much of the delay in the standings of the title holders.

To all Osimhen

One step at a time, like those taken by osimhen to stand out in the midst of the rearguard of Cagliari, showing off the house's signature dish: a powerful and precise gore that bends the opposing goalkeeper's hands. If so far the script of the match against the rossoblù was not surprising, with the Nigerian having never actually unlearned how to score, not even in the face of yet another muscular problem that occurred, but there is a lot to be said about a generosity that is not exactly proverbial for the strikers. It had already happened againstAtalanta and it is repeated against the Sardinians: osimhen he disguises himself as a great assistman and sets up for a teammate's goal, in the second case a kvaratskhelia which, paradoxically, was about to throw away even this opportunity after the recent numerous wastes. This time the post smiles at the Georgian, who scores the goal of the new and definitive advantage for the Azzurri, the one that starts a celebration that the Maradona, in the championship, he waited for 80 days: the time needed to travel around the world and, moving from literature to reality, the time to dig a chasm in the rankings between Napoli and the very top of the class. Here we return to politan thought and the following debate now well known, to varying degrees, throughout the entire Campania capital: is the chasm still possible to fill or already capable of definitively cutting the Azzurri out of the fight for the title? Only time and results will speak and, as happened already a year ago with roles reversed, will prove one side or the other right. At the moment Mazzarri can enjoy the end of a nightmare called Maradona and the definitive return of osimhen: a combination that could only be such. Even more so so close to that signature on the renewal which seems only a matter of time. Then between Napoli e osimhen, after the recent very strong crisis (more off the field than on the green rectangle), a new honeymoon will begin to be lived with serenity at least until next summer. And then? It is possible that at that point in the shadow of Vesuvius a new cycle will begin, which will probably bring with it various changes in the organization chart. They could say goodbye to various protagonists of the scudetto, perhaps having reached the end of their journey in blue just after the tricolor exploit, but also those who currently sit on the bench of the stadium Fuorigrotta. Then there is the case osimhen, all special exactly like anything involving the absolute king of an entire square: the renewal of the Nigerian, among other things still in the process of being formalized, may not imply a long stay of the same at Napoli. This is due to the probable inclusion of a release clause but perhaps even more so to a player who is eager to continually improve himself and his next goals, which may not coincide with those set for the future by Aurelio De Laurentiis. For now though osimhen speaks (again) as a leader also through social media: precisely those social networks that at the beginning of autumn had opened the crisis closed by the latest networks signed at the Maradona.

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