NAPLES, ANOTHER MAGICAL NIGHT! CAVANI AND A SUPER LAVEZZI COME BACK FOR CHELSEA. MAZZARRI PREACHES CALM: "QUALIFICATION IS NOT YET DECIDED".
On the eve of Naples-Chelsea, De Laurentiis had even invoked the help of San Gennaro. The patron saint must have listened to the president's invitation, because a wonderful match was staged in Fuorigrotta. After Villarreal, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Chelsea too must surrender to the law of San Paolo: here you don't pass, full stop.
The feat is remarkable, because this 3-1 victory leaves Napoli with a foot and a half in the quarter-finals, i.e. among the 8 queens of Europe. Unthinkable at the end of August, when the urn in Montecarlo seemed diabolical, even incredible if one thinks that this team, no later than 5 years ago, was playing in the old Serie C. However, the present is called the Champions League, a competition in which Napoli seems to be perfectly at ease. Yesterday too the Azzurri proved to be hard to die for, even after going behind (undeservedly) due to a "fault" of a clod.
In fact, Mata's goal was born from a mistake by Cannavaro, but without the mocking rebound of the ball nothing would have happened. Not bad, because the Azzurri, once they received the slap, went on the counterattack. Even before the break, Mazzarri's men overturned the match, closing the first 45' at 2-1, thanks to an overflowing Lavezzi and the sniper Cavani. Speaking of Mazzarri, the Tuscan coach will not have a 15 million euro release clause, but he has shown that he is worth much more than Villas-Boas. It almost seems that the Portuguese is trying to get fired at all costs: otherwise, why leave out two like Lampard and Essien, among other things also taking the insults of the English present at the San Paolo? That's all the better and now that qualification is on track, we need to keep our feet on the ground, as Mazzarri underlined after the match: “Chelsea are a great team and could manage to score us two goals in London. That's why I regretted when we missed the fourth, now I just hope I'm good at preparing for the second leg."
The coach flies low, but is aware of having achieved a great feat: “The team was extraordinary. It took us a while to react to the goal but in the end we got back to the ones before the disadvantage where we had two great chances with Cavani and Maggio. These guys surprise me more and more, they are incredible”. In short, it went more than well and you can also understand it from the post-match catchphrase, which denotes a certain desire to joke: but where did Mazzarri have seen the match? The Tuscan technician was in fact disqualified and rumors gave him in Castelvolturno, far from the noise of the stadium. But then, at the end of the game, the coach showed up at the press conference. Did he decide to emulate Mourinho, who in 2005, disqualified by UEFA, hid in the laundry basket to enter the locker room? "I saw her at the hotel and since Naples was all at the stadium I found the streets deserted and I arrived here in time for the interviews" joked Mazzarri. Who on certain nights now "made his mouth" and with him an entire city.
