Naples, midday is never on fire. And the dream of the Scudetto fades away

Naples, March 17, 2025 - The scudetto crossroads had to be and scudetto crossroads (maybe) was, but in the opposite direction to that hypothesized by most: the 29th day di Serie A marks a first leap in the standings on the day in which the Napoli he visited the Venice penultimate and l'Inter was hosted by theAtalanta, in turn not far from the top. Thanks to the very tough clash between the two Nerazzurre in the never banal theatre of the Gewiss Stadium and the previous match on paper less difficult for the Neapolitans at Penzo, everything suggested that the boys would overtake Antonio Conte at the top of the list. Instead, there is no shortage of twists and the first, most sensational, takes place at lunchtime: Napoli stopped by the 0-0 from a Venice who suffers, yes, but legitimises the point gained, perhaps useless for the purposes of a salvation that is in any case complicated, even with some courageous offensive forays.  

Taboo lunch match

In one case the outline is needed on the line of Amir Rrahmani, who will then close the match with a seemingly unworrisome physical ailment, and in another the firm fists of Alex Meret so that the Azzurri avoid a punishment that is too severe, especially for what was done in a first half that they dominated but failed to make a mark. And it's not exactly a novelty this season.. The first leg itself had long been a difficult puzzle to solve, despite the friendly setting of the Maradona: Romelu Lukaku he missed a penalty but James Breakers, almost at the last gasp, resolved the contest with a flash that had only just been grazed yesterday but was spat back into the field from the inside of the post. This time not even the new offensive tandem launched in the context of the 3-5-2 was able to break the spell of the matches of the 12.30: the defeats against the team recorded so far this season Atalanta e As an, the hard-fought, ugly and lucky victory of Empoli, and precisely it 0-0 imposed by the Venice and, in general, 1 win in the lasts 7 gameLunch time is therefore indigestible for the Napoli and the entire fight for the Scudetto risks going wrong, which sees the first real push by theInter, who thanks from a distance Ionut RaduThe Romanian goalkeeper saves everything from the Azzurri and, at a distance of almost 3 years, partly redeems the topicality of Bologna which in fact delivered a good slice of the championship to Milan. In short, when you start to feel the tricolour in the air, Radu takes away and Radu gives, imitated well on the other side as usual Meret, which protects the 0-0 but it does not prevent anger Tale for that final counterattack which, with hindsight and considering what would have happened in the evening, Bergamo, would have almost closed the game. Instead, the Napoli remains in at least visual contact with the league leaders, but the possible psychological backlash for a Sunday that according to plans and predictions should have had a very different outcome risks weighing much more than the 3 points gap indicated by the standings today, at the start of a break that at this point could have come at the right time. TheInter slows down its positive inertia a little, while also taking a breather in view of the Champions League, and the Azzurri can thus lick their wounds and reflect on everything that hasn't been working recently, well beyond the generic alibis granted to almost all teams at this point in the season.

A long and heavy stop

Staying at home Napoli, the series of injuries that have weighed down the air at Fuorigrotta even in the face of victories and the then primacy in the standings is undeniable, as is a strong physical decline that curiously came just when the rivals were busy in the European competitions: difficult, therefore, to understand if in the long term the full week of work is helpful or if it risks instead lowering the threshold of attention and energy, in addition to not preventing muscular problems that perhaps have their roots in the massive work done in the summer retreats. Right between Dimaro e Castel di Sangro, perhaps in anticipation of future difficulties and in an attempt to try to transform them into opportunities, Tale had begun to shape a Napoli capable of changing tactical outfit even during the same match. Even at Penzo In the second half, the Azzurri enter the dressing room to go through 3-5-2 al 4-3-3 under the pressure of the substitutions chosen by the Salento coach, for some perhaps too late. Noah okafor he places himself on the left and Matteo Politano he moves up to the right after having already carried out the duties of a fifth man in the previous 75 minutes of play: he climbs up to the centre of the 'new' trident Giovanni Simeone, who, in full recovery from zero meters, sends an interesting cross from the former player over the crossbar Milan. For the cholito, known for being a striker capable of optimising his performance between minutes played on the pitch and goals scored, has made his second blunder after the one last week, when he was hypnotised one-on-one with David De Gea after a solitary escape. That day the waste had no bearing on the result, a victory against the Fiorentina useful to close the streak without successes that in fact cost first the possible escape forward and then the top of the ranking: yesterday instead the high paw of Simeon, combined with everything that happened before in the Laguna, has presented a heavy duty in the economy of the ranking, but also two weeks that are expected to be very heavy before challenging, in order, the Milan al Maradona and Bologna al From the Ara. After these two very tough challenges, the Napoli will be expected by a calendar on paper all downhill. Yes, on paper: that same material according to which the turnover, between As an e Venice, should have been of 6 points and which instead turned out to be just 1 length, for a very severe double lesson that risks having moved the dream of the championship a long way away.

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