Journalist
January 20 – 12.54pm – MILANO
Napoli’s hope of remaining up there, in blissful solitude, not just virtually, lasted an hour, the time it took Lautaro to break the deadlock. Inter responded in kind: victory with 3 goals against Empoli and, if they tame Fiorentina in injury time, they can join their former friend Conte at the top. In the scoreboard, the Italian champions have hidden a message of strength and challenge.
climbing
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The revived Lautaro opened the scoring (4 goals in the last 5 matches), while Thuram closed the scoring, with 13 goals in the league. To the Bergamo seal of Lukaku, half of the former LuLa, the ThuLa responded in full. If Napoli reached 50 points, Inter reached 51 goals, 16 more than the leaders. An enormity. This is where Inzaghi feels strong, in his ability to score, which will weigh more and more as he gets closer to the finish line. Here Napoli must grow as they scored less than in the unfortunate last year (35-36), lost Kvara’s goals and now have Neres who spreads out on the left and doesn’t concentrate to kick with the right like the Georgian. For now, Conte has made do with goals from Anguissa and McTominay. Dumfries also scored, in a season of grace (7th center in total). The Dutch giant symbolizes Inter’s physical power which, like their top-level experience and quality of play, has made the difference in recent seasons. With these weapons Inter will defend the title. But Conte also has his good cards to play. The advantage of weeks without cups is there for all to see. The close matches have mowed down Calhanoglu and Mkhitaryan, who were stopped by muscle injuries.
head to head
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-On Saturday Napoli will face Juve, fresh from their Champions League efforts. An advantage in a very delicate commitment. But it’s not just a question of injuries and fatigue. The empty weeks are filled with work. If Napoli has improved so much, compared to the first outings, in balance and transitions, it is precisely because Conte has had more time than his colleagues to fine-tune the machine in the pits. He was able to test three formations from the beginning of the season, until he found the best solution (4-3-3), thanks to the hours of tactical education at Castel Volturno. Today the Anguissa-Lobotka-McTominay midfielder, the power centre, has perfect synchronicity and distances and can compete on equal terms with that of Inter who until yesterday dominated by distance. Conte’s three have the advantage of having an average age (29) lower than Barella-Calhanoglu-Mkhitaryan (31). The Armenian scores 36 tomorrow. And then, focusing for seven days on the only weekly commitment helps you enter the field hungry. In addition to fatigue, those who play in the cup bring the mental stress of the previous match into the championship.
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calendar
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Bergamo’s Napoli were impressive in their concentration, they didn’t lose their attention for a single second, not even the slightest distraction. Inter, however, yesterday, in the first half, seemed to lack anger and yesterday too they were distracted at 2-0, risking yet another comeback. On this level, Napoli commands. Also thanks to General Conte, the first factor in the dream, for how he regenerated a depressed environment and transfigured men, such as Di Lorenzo, Politano and Anguissa. Naples is at his feet, with or without a megaphone. The 5,000 of Capodichino explain well what kind of push the Conte boys can get from the people. And at the Maradona, the basin of honour, Napoli will host Juve, Inter, their main competitor, and Milan. Even the calendar has a friendly face. All this does not mean that Conte already has the scudetto in his pocket. He won’t always be able to score 3 goals with 3 shots on target and he won’t always be able to count on all the starters. Conte would also have the problems that Inzaghi has in replacing Calhanoglu and Mkhitaryan, who returned yesterday: there is no alternative close to the performance of the three starters in midfield. The road is long. Too long to consider Atalanta already out of the game. In the next 6 days, they will only face teams from the bottom half and will be able to recover some points from the 7 that are holding them back. Against Napoli himself he demonstrated that he is not inferior in terms of play. On the contrary. Scamacca will return. And, usually, in spring the Goddess flies.
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