‘Mamma miaaaa!!!’ described this 1-0 win best. Not since Maradona wore the shirt have Napoli known times like these

Tell a story in two words. Diego Maradona did his best in the moments that followed Napoli’s stunning 1-0 victory over Juventus in Turin on Sunday, logging in to Facebook and hammering in a phrase screamed everywhere from a Mediaset Premium commentary box to the bars and piazze of Naples: “Mamma miaaaa!!!”

Not since Maradona wore the shirt have Napoli known times like these. By the time the Partenopei landed back at Capodichino airport, the crowd awaiting them was reported to have swelled to as many as 10,000.

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Their flight had been delayed by 90 minutes to allow local authorities to get a grip on the situation from a security standpoint. Napoli landed at 1.30am, but it was past 4am before their team bus started to pull clear of the throng. Even then, an informal convoy of mopeds and cars trailing scarves and flags accompanied them on the drive back toward their Castel Volturno training ground.



Similar scenes had played out in reverse a day earlier, thousands gathering outside Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo to lend the team a proper send-off. All this for a game that could not change their position in the standings. Win or lose, Napoli would end the day in second.

And yet, when Kalidou Koulibaly rose to break the deadlock with a 90-minute header, everything really did seem to change. Four days earlier, Napoli had been losing at home to Udinese while Juventus led at Crotone. If those results had held, the gap at the top would have widened to nine points. Instead, by Sunday night, it was down to one.

Juventus still lead the way, still have control of their own destiny. But their remaining four games include trips to Inter and Roma: both fighting tooth and nail for a Champions League berth. Napoli’s schedule is not exactly soft, with visits to Fiorentina and Sampdoria, as well as home fixtures against Torino and Crotone. If offered the chance, though, would they really trade places?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kalidou Koulibaly towers above the Juventus defence to score the winner in the 90th minute. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex Shutterstock

It is not simply a question of the fixture list, either. The impact of this win went beyond what you could read in the standings. A month earlier, following a win over Genoa, manager Maurizio Sarri responded to a question about whether his team could win the title, saying: “If it was up to me we would go to the palace and seize power.”



The Allianz Stadium has not so much been a palace as a fortress for Juventus, a place where they had lost seven games in as many years. The Bianconeri had faced Napoli six times here in the league, winning on every occasion. To break such a run could hardly fail to leave a psychological impact.

Napoli never gave Juventus a moment to settle. Lorenzo Insigne could have put them in front in the very first minute, darting between two defenders to reach a deflected cross but getting his shot all wrong under pressure from Giorgio Chiellini. The defender hyper-extended his knee in the challenge and limped off 10 minutes later. His departure was a blow for the hosts, but it can hardly explain their failure to register a shot on target for the first time ever in this venue.

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It is one thing to play cautiously in a big game, to protect yourself and look for the killer break. Here, they simply looked timid. As Gianni Mura would reflect in Monday’s edition of La Repubblica: “If [Giovanni] Trapattoni had played like this they would have whistled him all the way to the French border.”

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Napoli were imperfect, ragged at times, yet they fought to sustain an active high press, routinely sending as many as three players to smother the opponent in possession. You got the impression they were enjoying their status as underdogs, after appearing in some recent games to be weighed down by expectation.

The goal hardly felt inevitable – if anything, we are more accustomed to seeing Juventus find a way to steal a decisive moment in games such as this – yet it was a just reward for the only team that truly tried to win. There was something poetic about the fact that it should be scored by Koulibaly, a towering giant in a team most famous for its trio of “marvellous smurfs” up front.

“Juventus are still in front and so almost nothing changes,” insisted Sarri afterwards. “We just need to think about the match in Florence, Juventus are in front and our chances are very slim.”

He was not fooling anyone. The fireworks continued long into the night in Naples, fans flooding the streets and squares far away from the airport, too, while delirious pizzaioli served up free dinners.

Before kick-off, Sarri had been honoured with a mural by the street artist Jorit Agoch, famed for previous works featuring Maradona and Marek Hamsik. The manager has still not won a major piece of silverware in Naples, yet he has built a team that deserves to be remembered for its resilience as much as its flair. This was Napoli’s 30th away game in Serie A without defeat.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Napoli fans celebrate with a T-shirt bearing the image of former player Diego Maradona. Photograph: Ciambelli/Rex Shutterstock

The night had started on a less edifying note, Sarri caught showing a middle finger to Juventus fans as Napoli’s team bus arrived. Rather than apologise, he clarified his gesture was not aimed at fans in general, merely those “spitting at us and insulting us because we are Neapolitan”.

His unrefined manner is not always appreciated outside of Naples but then, wasn’t the same true of Maradona? If he and his players can see this dream through to its conclusion, they will earn a place every bit as indelible in club lore.

Talking points

• A quietly very impressive win for Roma, as they geared up for their Champions League semi-final against Liverpool. Spal were unbeaten in eight, yet Eusebio Di Francesco still dared to rest a number of starters. Roma even got a goal from Patrik Schick, the striker finally breaking his duck.

• And in case you hadn’t spotted it, I had the chance to sit down with Di Francesco over the weekend for a one-on-one.

• The race for those last two Champions League places, though, remains as tight as ever. Lazio thrashed Sampdoria, with Ciro Immobile becoming the first Italian since Antonio Di Natale to score 29 goals in a Serie A season. Inter were less impressive at Chievo but they stepped up a gear and remain one point behind the Rome clubs.

• What a mess at Udinese, pushing for Europe in February but at risk of relegation after an 11th consecutive defeat – at home to Crotone. Gino Pozzo, who in recent times has devoted more of his time and energy to Watford, flew back to Italy last week to attempt to get a handle on the situation, and now faces a delicate decision over whether to stick by manager Massimo Oddo with four games left.

• Crotone’s win spelled the end for Benevento, mathematically relegated just a day after they had beaten Milan at San Siro. It will go down as one of calcio’s more peculiar footnotes that the Witches were unbeaten in two games against the Rossoneri in their first top-flight season.