Napoli saw their positive streak end Wednesday, but it might be a favorable augury for the future. The Azzurri dropped the first game of the year in the two seasons where they won the Scudetto, Tuttomercatoweb informs.
The comparisons about with 1986/1987 abound. They experienced their first seasonal defeat in the opening fixture of the new year, as Fiorentina topped them 3-1. Per Giuseppe Pistore, Argentina had won the World Cup a few months prior in that case as well. Instead, in 1989/1990, Lazio bested them on the road, but they hadn’t been spotless up to that point.
Before the midweek round, Napoli were the last undefeated team in the top five European leagues since PSG recently lost versus Lens, SportMediaset informs. Catanzaro are now the only professional game in Italy that has never been upended.
The Azzurri lead Serie A with a five-point advantage over Milan. Juventus and Inter aren’t too far behind. Luciano Spalletti didn’t show much concern in his post-game remarks to DAZN.
“We didn’t move the ball with our usual quality. We were too slow and that made things difficult, because they were defending with five men in the box. Some of our players didn’t play up to their standards. We’ll handle the loss well. Probably we’ll train better, but that will be up to me. We performed below our capabilities. We have to recapture our best shape, and then we’ll see what we will be able to produce.”
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