Il Napoli in heaven, the Juve to hell. This is the verdict of the night of the Olimpico, which gives away the Italian Cup to Gattuso's Azzurri and leaves Sarri's bianconeri with "zero credits". A success that came from the penalty spot, with Napoli infallible and Juventus seriously inaccurate, not to say disastrous, after 90 minutes in which tactics and bland rhythms had a clear supremacy over technique and showmanship. Penalties, as we know, are a lottery, but woe to reduce everything to luck: if there was a team that deserved victory in regulation time it was Gattuso's.
I am authentic goal chances, the only ones that really matter, almost all blue. And so, when the designated players went to the penalty spot, there was the clear sensation of a Cup that had already been decided at the outset, as if the Juventus players themselves had by now stopped believing in it. It's about the triumph of GattusoThere's no doubt about this: thinking back to how Napoli was in conditions before his arrival and seeing where he's arrived today can only certify, if there were still any need, the goodness of his work.
"I believe there is a God of football, who when you work hard gives you back what you sow," he said Gattuso with a pinch of emotion – I spoke to the youngsters where they belong, because whoever does this job must do it with respect: I want people who put passion into it, as I have done for many years. Now we have to play these last 12 league games at most, we can't give up just because we've achieved this goal."
“This victory was in the air, many things have changed since Gattuso's here – the enthusiastic comment by De Laurentiis – Everyone has rallied around him, the club, the idea of Naples. After all, Napoli is the only one who manages to challenge Juventus for the title. We still can't beat them for the Scudetto, but sooner or later I hope to succeed...".
After celebrating the winners, it's time to talk about the losers, therefore about a Juve losing its second final of the season. In the Super Cup the knockout came in the 90's, yesterday instead a great Buffon and the goalposts of the Olimpico seemed to be able to tell a different story: however the signs were misleading and the Lady found herself having to deal with another defeat. Inevitably Maurizio Sarri ends up in the dock, guilty of having also lost this final (and if they were running amok on the eve, who knows today…), but above all of not having yet given a soul to his Juve.
The 180' of Coppa Italia, apart from the epilogue to penalties, showed us a team without bite, lost in a sterile ball possession, unable to score a goal despite the evident (especially against Milan) technical supremacy. The justification for the long stop holds up to a certain point, firstly because it applies to everyone, secondly because even before we had certainly not seen a sparkling Juve. The two most important trophies remain, God forbid, and if Sarri were to hit them he could even laugh thinking about the lost ones, but the reality of the facts, at the time of writing, offers us a scenario we were no longer used to: the bianconeri , even in the national arena, are anything but unbeatable.
"There is disappointment for the boys, for the club, for the fans, but right now we can't express more both for the condition and for some absences we have - explained the Juventus coach - We have this great difficulty in turning the amount of play into brilliance, but I don't think it's a matter of malice. What did I tell the players? Nothing, we are all very angry and disappointed, better to keep quiet and talk about it later…”.
The first post-Covid trophy thus ends up in the shadow of Vesuvius, legitimizing the performance of a very attentive Napoli in the defensive phase and pungent at the right point in front, as demonstrated by the posts of Insigne (25') and Elmas (92'), both on a deflection of a Buffon in great shape. Juve, on the other hand, which had started off well, died at a distance, a prisoner of an unrecognizable Ronaldo and of a game that evidently does not suit his characteristics.
Sarri's responsibilities they are also evident in the choice of penalty takers: sending Danilo to the spot after Dybala had already made a mistake, leaving CR7 last, proved to be a mistake. There is time to ennoble the season, we reiterate it, but the signs don't seem particularly propitious. And Andrea Agnelli's face at the end of the game is worth a thousand words...
