The Napoli coach is moved when he dedicates the Scudetto: «To my daughter Matilde, to the family, who are always there to push. To all my friends, to my brother Marcello», who died four years ago
He won it on the field, as he wanted. Not in him, and the ending was incandescent. Spalletti, the visionary, the ingenious coach, relaxes his forehead, free the smile, hug anyone who comes within range. He lets go of the brakes after a very tight race, he turns to Naples: «This goal is for you». He has all the players around him, in the Friuli stadium the Udinese fans (here 117 benches and the qualification for the Champions League preliminaries) offended him for the entire duration of the match. He responds to insults by raising his arms: football can be ungrateful, his championship is also the revenge. At the triple whistle of Abisso the dancing at the Dacia Arena does not start, the party is ruined by the invasion of the pitch: the Scudetto is served away, the final is a brawl. De Laurentiis is in Naples among his people: «An immense joy», his joy is uncontainable. Blue scarf around her neck, she says to the Maradona fans: «You have always told me we want to win, we did it all together. We will do it again, we miss the Champions League and we will conquer it. Tonight it would take Modugno to sing: Marvelous».
Naples champion of Italy, the Scudetto party and live reactions
The interminable wait is over, Captain Di Lorenzo shouts: «We are champions of Italy» with the last vowel repeated beyond belief. The other comrades go towards him: arms in the sky, smiles, applause as if there were no tomorrow. The euphoria reaches very high peaks, despite the tension. He, the great winner Spalletti remains on the field. «Happiness is a fleeting moment» he repeats, and the emotion is so strong that this time he lets himself go a little. He is the eighth coach of the De Laurentiis era in Serie A, the first to win. This is how he responds, with exaggerated joy, to that label of angular man that even in Naples he had worn. «The problem for those used to always working hard, like me – he says – is that they can’t even fully enjoy victories. We have to work again.” When he won at Zenit with a polar temperature he paraded on the field with a bare chest. His first time at the age of 64 in Italy is the goal of maturity and of emotion (“I have dedicated all my time to these guys”), especially when in the end comes the dedication to the dearest affections: “To my daughter Matilde, to the family, who are always there to push. To all friends, to my brother Marcello». And at that point Spalletti, mentioning his brother who disappeared 4 years ago, is moved and leaves the interview station in tears. He rewinds the tape and for one night lives intensely and without limits. The sparkling wine bath in the locker room is a new ritual for this Naples, it is repeated over and over again while the images from Maradona arrive on the cell phones: a city gone mad.
Over 13,000 Neapolitans celebrate at the Dacia Arena arrived in the morning, then when the team returns to the hotel late in the evening (they will return to Naples in the morning) there too is a coming and going of Friulian friends, it gets late and a thousand fans arrive in front of the entrance. Spalletti struggles to piece together the puzzle of the championship that remains: there are five more games to play, he (still) wants the best, he has to win big, he’s like that. «This is an ultra-luxury victory. Naples is a unique, inimitable city. Beautiful, passionate» he had said before leaving. On the night of the Scudetto the praise is even stronger: «The Neapolitans know that it is beautiful but how much it really is can be said better by those like me who are guests of it and are struck by it».
The Scudetto of the Neapolitans has nothing extemporaneousis the result of the planning and foresight of the club led by Aurelio De Laurentiis, of the shrewd and effective market of ds Giuntoli but above all of the direction of a coach who arrived two seasons ago amidst general skepticism. Spalletti is happy twice: «I chose to come to Naples just to win, here there have been important coaches like Benitez, Ancelotti and Sarri himself: they did well, they came close. I had no escape, in Naples I should have only aimed for the maximum. We succeeded.” It’s not time to take the pebbles off your shoes, Spalletti however annotatedor everything on the memoir notebooks
: he rejoices but doesn’t forget who made banners against him, who came to retreat last year equipped with packets of eggs. Now he gets everyone on the wagon, then the time for questions will come. One has already been done: «Can I still give the Neapolitans everything they deserve? Will I be up to them?” De Laurentiis has no doubts: «Let’s continue with him, it was a wonderful film». There will still be so much to tell.
May 5, 2023 (change May 5, 2023 | 00:49)
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