They have already renamed it the game of the "scudettino". In fact, Naples-Rome would seem to be worth more in terms of second place than first, even if mathematics says otherwise. However, it is clear that tonight's result (at 20.45 pm) will determine many things, both for the hosts and for the guests. Both teams must win and a draw would be greeted with disappointment on both sides: Roma would almost certainly say goodbye to their dream of the Scudetto, Napoli would fail to approach second place, the one that leads directly to the Champions League without going through the preliminaries.
To date, there are 6 points separating the Giallorossi and Azzurri, with Garcia's men who, it should be remembered, still have to make up for the match against Parma. “In fact, the pressure is all on them – growled the French coach at the press conference. – If they lose, it's over for them, but for us nothing will change, we'll always stay second with one race less and we'll go on”. Difficult to blame Garcia and in fact Benitez has taken the burden on his shoulders, despite him.
“It's a fundamental game for us, we're fighting for second place, it can be decisive – admitted the Spaniard. – We have to face it as if it were a final, knowing however that even in the event of a defeat we could make up for it. But if we lose second place it will become almost impossible to reach, that's why we have to win." The Napoli coach appeared confident, who in fact has never missed the important matches in the San Paolo bowl.
Rome knows something about it, which in the Italian Cup made up for a very heavy defeat (3-0) which still hurts. "But we won twice and scored five goals," Garcia recalled. – We will go to their home with the ambition to win, I hope to see a good match”. Roma, without the suspended De Rossi and the unavailable Totti and Balzaretti, will line up with the classic 4-3-3 which will see De Sanctis in goal, Maicon, Benatia, Castan and Torosidis in defence, Pjanic, Nainggolan and Strootman in midfield, Florenzi, Destro and Gervinho in attack. Almost complete training for Napoli, who will play with the 4-2-3-1 of the order. In front of Rafael, Maggio, Fernandez, Albiol and Ghoulam will act, Inler and Jorginho in midfield, Callejon, Hamsik and Mertens (favorite over Insigne) in the frontline, Higuain in attack, returning after the disqualification.
