Curiosities on the Napoli calendar
With the Scudetto on their chest, the Italian champions restart from the field of a newly promoted team, the Frosinone. And with a series of precedents and encouraging statistics. There championship holder teamindeed, it has won on matchday 1 in 11 of the last 12 seasons (only Juventus in 2015/16 failed to do so, losing 0-1 at home to Udinese). Also Naples debuted in the league with success for 6 seasons in a row. Let us also add that the blues, when they debuted against a newly promoted team, they never lost (13 wins and 4 draws).
On the 3rd day (weekend of September 3), however, there is immediately the primo big-match, at Maradona, against ex Sarri’s Lazio. The next one he falls in the 10th, against Milan, then a fiery December, with 3 direct matches in 4 days: Napoli-Inter in the 14th round, Juve-Napoli in the 15th round, Roma-Napoli in the 17th round, on the weekend of December 23, just before Christmas. For the superstitious: when Napoli-Inter fell on matchday 14, Napoli won 4 times out of 5, the last time on 30 November 2015, with a 2-1 scored by Gonzalo Higuain’s brace. Pipita protagonist, but this time with the Juventus shirt, also the last time Napoli-Juve was played on the 15th day: on 1 December 2017 he signed the 1-0 draw for the bianconeri with a painful goal from the ex. However, last season Napoli won both league matches against Juventusfor the fourth time in its history in Serie A (after 2009/10, 1986/87 and 1957/58).
In the return round the big matches are concentrated between February and the first half of March, but more cadenced: Lazio away in the 22nd, Milan at San Siro in the 24th, Juventus in the 27th, Inter in the 29th. In the 34th round there is Roma, bottom of the championship at home against Lecce.