An unmissable Saturday. The 22nd day, which began yesterday with the 1-1 between Bologna and Benevento, gives us a Heart-pounding Napoli-Juventus (18 pm), but also an interesting Spezia-Milan (20.45) with Inter and Lazio at the window, waiting to cross gloves in tomorrow night's big match. The crossroads are becoming more and more delicate, especially as next Sunday there will be the Milan derby, an appointment, standings in hand, fundamental in terms of the Scudetto. It is therefore logical that the Rossoneri and Nerazzurri do not want to lose ground right now, as well as Juventus, whose hopes of a comeback largely pass from the next two days.
Pirlo knows that winning in Naples would put a lot of pressure on the Milanese, at which point you are forced to answer in the same way, but also that Gattuso, if possible, needs even more points than him. The two, teammates for 10 years between Milan and the national team, are great friends but tonight they won't be able to get any kind of discount: the Maradona match could even put an end to Rino's experience on the blue bench, even if from the club (as far as it can count, given that De Laurentiis decides everything) they let it be known that this is not the case. “It's part of our job – sighed Pirlo -. I'm sorry for Rino but I'm thinking about my problems, we'll have to try to do well and win. It will be an important match for both teams, Napoli-Juve is always a great match and there are fundamental points up for grabs".
That's right, because if it's true that the Juventus coach is coming off 7 consecutive useful hits between the championship, the Italian Cup and the Super Cup, it is also that he has a delay on the Milanese to fill, which is why he cannot afford any missteps. Furthermore, the Champions League is about to start again, the number one goal of clubs and fans, and getting there with a victory would dramatically increase self-esteem and morale. On the other hand, however, the air is very heavy, the result of a collapse which, in this brief glimpse of 2021, has seen Napoli sink to sixth place in the standings (together with Atalanta), lose the Super Cup and come out badly from the Cup Italy. But the results are only part of the problem, completed by an almost irrecoverable relationship with De Laurentiis, by various indefensible performances and by a worrying series of injuries, which make everything even more complicated.
Here, to tell the truth, Juve also have something to say, given that tonight they will miss Arthur (also at risk for Porto), Ramsey and the usual Dybala (the knee still hurts), but Gattuso, without Mertens, Koulibaly, Manolas, Hysaj, Demme and Ghoulam, it's definitely worse off. In fact, Pirlo still has a wide margin of choice and tonight he should opt for a 3-5-2 with Szczesny in goal, De Ligt, Chiellini and Danilo in defense, Cuadrado, McKennie, Bentancur, Rabiot and Chiesa in midfield. Morata and Ronaldo in attack. A bit of trouble in all departments instead for Gattuso, who will play all out with a 4-2-3-1 with Ospina between the posts, Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Rrahmani and Mario Rui in the back department, Bakayoko and Zielinski in the median, Politano, Insigne and Lozano behind the only striker Osimhen.
Stefano Pioli does not have these problems, which after months of emergency can finally smile. In fact, with the returns of Calhanoglu, Bennacer, Kjaer and Tonali, the squad is almost complete, so much so that today the list of absentees will be reduced to only Brahim Diaz and Calabria (suspended). A nice breath of fresh air before two hot weeks, which will see the Rossoneri face Inter and Roma in the league and the double challenge with Red Star in the Europa League. “Now I'm only thinking about Spezia, an insidious team that created us problems already in the first leg, we'll see the rest on Monday – glossed over Pioli -. Now we can make many choices, we have two players per position and this will help us, but we must remain humble and continue to confirm our qualities. You don't have to dream, but do your best, even if you won't hear the word scudetto from me until May...".
But even he, superstition aside, knows well that the bar has risen and that matches like today's, against small but healthy teams (last Saturday's victory over Sassuolo proves it), can no longer be wrong. On the other hand, the issue of renewals, with cases, disturbs the environment a little Donnarumma and Calhanoglu still on standby despite the contract expiring in just 4 months: the club wants to keep them, they want to stay, but there's a lot of money in between, with a gap between supply and demand still too wide to say anything, one way or the other. However, this is a thought of the club, certainly not of Pioli, very concentrated on Spezia and on a match to be won at all costs.
At the Peak we will see the best possible 4-2-3-1 with Donnarumma in goal, Dalot, Kjaer, Romagnoli and Hernandez in defense, Bennacer and Kessié in midfield, Saelemaekers, Calhanoglu and Leao (favorite over Rebic) behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Italian will respond with the usual 4-3-3 with Provedel between the posts, Vignali, Chabot, Erlic and Bastoni in the back department, Sena, Saponara and Maggiore in the midfield, Gyasi, Agudelo and Verde in the offensive trident.
