One day after the elimination of Inter from all European competitions, all Italian eyes were focused on Napoli on Thursday night.
After a sounding 4-0 away win at Crotone, Gennaro Gattuso’s men were called to a very tough Europa League match for at least two reasons: First of all, the Azzurri were the last Italian team in need of qualification to the knock-out stage; secondly, but not less importantly, tonight marked the “overture” of the brand-new Diego Armando Maradona Stadium – as the San Paolo was renamed.
At the end of a day marked by the death of Italian football legend Pablito Rossi, Napoli were called to make history against La Liga sensation Real Sociedad.
It was a key match for both teams and Gattuso decided to celebrate the rebranding of Naples’ historical stadium by wearing his best possible dress, with Lorenzo Insigne, Piotr Zielinski and Hirving Lozano behind Dries “Ciro” Mertens.
Under their new angel protection, Napoli went “all-in” to mark history, while Real Sociedad replied with their typical 4-2-3-1 with former Manchester United Adnan Januzaj backing Willian Josè, with Portu and and Martìn Zubimendi as squires.
? | StartingXI: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Mario Rui, Fabian, Bakayoko, Lozano, Zielinski, Insigne, Mertens.#NapoliRealSociedad #UEL
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) December 10, 2020
? #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/0mB96NbgQD
As one could imagine, the match ended up being a tough match, with the Spaniards trying to surprise David Ospina with a quick start. Januzaj, Zubimendi and Ander Guevara didn’t manage to catch the former Arsenal goalkeeper unprepared, though.
Even without their star David Silva, Real Sociedad showed to Gattuso and his men why their are currently runner-up in La Liga, keeping the Azzurri under pressure, but had to bite their nails when Portu, all alone facing Ospina after a wonderful combination with William José, shot aside missing the clearest chance of the whole match.
But being Naples famous for its scaramanzia (superstition) rituals, the Partenopei could not but live up to on the most typical Italian football traditions: When you miss a goal, you concede one. An so, from a Mertens corner kick, Nacho Monreal failed to clear his area and left the ball to Piotr Zielinski, who pierced Alex Remiro with a fine shot.
The second half started again with the Spaniard controlling the game and the Italian defense under pressure, with their resistance made more difficult by the heavy and slippery ground due to the pouring rain.
News coming from Croatia, with AZ Alkmaar initially losing and then tying to Rijeka, took away a little bit of pathos from the match, at least for the home side, who were guaranteed the first place in the group by AZ’s result.
Qualificati e primi: perfetto ??
— Koulibaly Kalidou (@kkoulibaly26) December 10, 2020
Qualifiés et classé premiers: parfait ??
Qualified and ranking first: perfect ??
⚽️ #NapoliRealSociedad 1-1 #UEL
?? #KK #NoToRacism #blacklivesmatter
? #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/17yn1h5QNS
If Napoli were happy enough with the qualification, Gattuso certainly wasn’t, especially when, on 90 minutes, Matteo Politano served Andrea Petagna a chance for a very easy tap-in, but the former SPAL forward lost time, the ball and ultimately the three points – as the Spaniards managed to score with Willian Josè from the subsequent counter-attack.
Despite five minutes of added time left to play, the final whistle got earlier as news coming from Rijeka saw the Croatians managing to get an unexpected win over AZ. The match at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium thus turned into a cool-off training.
Buona la prima, therefore, as Gattuso reached the first goal of the season: To win his Europa League Group and likely to avoid a tough opponent in the next round when Maradona might need to give a bigger help from heaven to his devoted Azzurri fellows.
MATCH REPORT
December 10, 2020 – Europa League 2020-21 Group Stage
NAPOLI-REAL SOCIEDAD 1-1
SCORERS: 35′ Zielinski (N), 92′ Willian Josè (R)
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NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Mario Rui (82′ Ghoulam); Fabian Ruiz, Bakayoko (70′ Demme); Lozano (70′ Politano), Zielinski (74′ Elmas), Insigne; Mertens (70′ Petagna) (Meret, Contini, Manolas, Lobotka) Coach: Gattuso |
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REAL SOCIEDAD (4-4-2): Remiro; Zaldua, Zubeldia, Le Normand (78′ Isak), Monreal (78′ Munoz); Portu (56′ Barrenetxea), Guevara (78′ Sagnan), Merino, Zubimendi; Januzaj, Willian José (Ayesa, Elustondo, Merquelanz, Gorosabei, Lopez, Gonzalez) Coach: Alguacil |
REFEREE: Grinfeld (Israel)
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Zubimendi, Le Normand, Zubeldia (R), Mertens, Lozano, Fabian Ruiz (N); Extra Time: First Half 1′, Second Half 5′