Naples concrete and fun, but the exams never end

Who stops Napoli? The World Cup, no one else. It takes the strangest stop in the history of football to interrupt the solo ride of the blues. We would have liked other Azzurri to have taken the stage from next Sunday, but that’s another story.

Against Udinese comes the eleventh consecutive victory, a feat that has never been achieved by De Laurentiis’ club. For now there are eleven points ahead of Milan and Lazio, second hand, who today will try to reduce the gap, a complicated task against Fiorentina and Juve, before “breaking the lines”.

Napoli graduated early autumn champion, on the strength of his dazzling numbers: the only unbeaten in Serie A, best attack at 34, record in header goals, 9, in the top five leagues. These are not sensations, but figures that give a precise dimension to the leading phenomenon and that in any case do not say everything. If we stretch our necks to peek in Europe, the 15 points of the first place in the Champions group obtained against Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers reinforce the idea that nothing happens by chance, much less the Neapolitan domination in the initial part of the tournament.

Let’s not limit ourselves to the results, which for many would be enough and would advance to exalt Napoli. The harmony of the game and the sharpness of the plots remain in the eyes, as if they were elementary. In the organized phrasing there is even a playful nuance: the script is difficult, but during the performance you have fun. Thus a virtuous circle is born that leads to a solitary escape, to parties at the Diego Maradona, a pagan temple in total ecstasy. But at the most beautiful, the lights go out, the music is over, the friends leave, see you in 2023. There is the long interlude of the World Cup, Spalletti lends five to the national teams in Qatar, not even a lot of them. Here will be the real unknown: after a break of almost two months, he will restart another race.

11 is magical, in the Neapolitan grimace it means mice, but also transformations, spiritual maturity. Here, Osimhen and his companions will have to demonstrate that they have reached the necessary balance to avoid skidding in the rest of the journey: in Serie A there will be 23 days to go, not very few. Yesterday afternoon, whoever chases has certainly studied with curiosity the quarter of an hour of trembling that from 3-0 led to 3-2. An interesting detail especially for Spalletti, who is also good at working on mistakes. On other recent occasions, Napoli has found itself alone in command: Sarri and Luciano himself can tell about it, but without succeeding in the final success. The last to raise a trophy for Napoli was Gattuso in 2020: it was the Coppa Italia, a square that has experienced Diego’s golden years now expects something stronger. The rich advantage suggests that in June there may be the time of Naples. But in such a syncopated season, never seen before, it will be better to sail on sight. Spalletti will face Inter at San Siro on 4 January, then on Friday 13 – the superstitious Neapolitans are allowed to touch iron – it’s Juve’s turn at the San Paolo. All beautiful and fascinating, but beware: even for Napoli the exams never end.