Napoli Face Monumental Champions League Task As Roma Zero In

Napoli’s title defence officially ended in the most emphatic of ways, and there’s no coming back from it. The reigning champions were slaughtered at home by Inter in a resounding 3-0 away win in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Yet the score line, as is often the case, doesn’t reflect how the game played out.

For one thing, Napoli were denied what was a stonewall penalty when Victor Osimhen was bundled to the ground by the trailing leg of Francesco Acerbi early in the second half, with the score only at 1-0. How the sequence wasn’t brought to the attention of VAR remains a mystery, and referee Davide Massa’s performance was questioned by Napoli in the aftermath of the game. Had the decision been awarded, there’s no telling the trajectory the match would’ve taken had it been scored.

As it were, Inter went on to humble Napoli at home, and with it sending a clear signal to the rest of the league, and the current champions, that they’re without question the best team in Italy. Sporting director Beppe Marotta has amassed a stellar squad for Simone Inzaghi to work with, a blend of youth, experience and future potential makes Inter by far and away the most complete squad in the division, a team with very few weaknesses and competition for every role.

For Napoli, there is a real fear now they might not even qualify for the Champions League next season. At present, the Partenopei resemble more the 1990/91 champions in the death throes of the Diego Maradona era than the superb iteration of 1987/88 that should’ve retained the Scudetto that season. What is clear is that the big three of Inter, Juventus and Milan are breaking away from the rest of the pack, and the fight for fourth place is likely to be between Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina.

Jose Mourinho’s side have won three of the last five and have made up the points on Napoli after their horrendous start to the season. Roma came from a goal down away to Sassuolo to win 2-1 in Emilia Romagna, and the Giallorossi have now scored 13 goals in the last 15 minutes of play this season — the most out of any side in Europe’s top five leagues — in the process earning 11 points. This is the reason Mourinho’s side are now challenging Napoli for the final Champions League berth.

Things don’t get any easier for Napoli. They face hated rivals Juventus in Turin this Friday, while Roma are at home to Fiorentina. Napoli demolished Juventus on aggregate 6-1 across the two league games last season en route to winning the title, with many citing their 5-1 home win in January as the true moment they became champions. Things could not be more different less than a year later: Juve are keeping the pressure on Inter at the top of the table, and aren’t likely to capitulate as easy as they did in Naples 11 months ago.

A defeat for Napoli up north combined with a Roma win in the capital would see Roma officially overtake them in the Serie A table, with a clash between the two pencilled in for December 23. Yet all is not lost from a Napoli perspective, Napoli have the easier set of fixtures leading up to and after the Christmas break. Roma have to face Juventus in Turin near the end of the year, while they also face the likes of Milan, Atalanta and Bologna within the next six weeks.

Once we get to the January transfer window, it remains to be seen whether Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis will invest in the market, and right the wrongs of last summer when he failed to pump fresh blood into the squad, in hindsight a massive mistake. One would suspect that if the gap between Napoli and Roma isn’t too big, then De Laurentiis may sign a midfielder the team desperately needs in order to bring a new impetus. The once-complete midfield trio of Piotr Zielinski, Franck-Zambo Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka look tired, while Elif Elmas isn’t good enough to replace any of the three.

It isn’t too late for Napoli to turn things around in the second half of the season, but defeats to Juve and Roma would leave the champions facing a mammoth task to quality for the top four, and compound their miserable season as champions.