Appointment with history. Napoli is ready to welcome Real Madrid (20.45 pm) with the awareness of being able to sign one of the most beautiful pages of his life, inferior only to the great successes of the Maradona era. Overturning the 3-1 at the Bernabeu is difficult, not impossible: going out with your head held high wouldn't cause jolts (De Laurentiis permitting), instead accomplishing the feat would make an entire population tremble with enthusiasm.
This must be the spirit of Napoli because the real great enemy, in addition to the talent of the BBC (aka Bale-Benzema-Ronaldo), risks being above all performance anxiety, inevitable when you are about to reach levels never explored before. However, if the Azzurri know how to handle it then anything can happen, even trying to put the great Real on the ropes.
“The pressure is all on them, they are the strongest, the richest, passing the round is normal – explained Sarri – Our job is to put them in difficulty, we know it is almost impossible but we will try to get them to run the ic…. , we will also be able to count on our stadium. Madrid are used to playing in fiery environments but our fans are already the European champions”.
In the pre-match statements there is all the blue coach: smart, prepared, free-range. Even for him today will be the highest point of a career that started from the small pitches of the province and reached the knockout stages of the Champions League, which is why he wants to enjoy it and live his way. Saturday's success against Roma gave him back an extra pinch of serenity, the meeting with De Laurentiis (“we talked about the cinema for half an hour” he joked) is not known.
However, we will only think about the future from tomorrow because first we need to experience a night that can still give us great emotions. Sarri will field the usual 4-3-3 with Reina in goal, Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly and Ghoulam in defense, Rog (favorite over Zielinski), Diawara and Hamsik in midfield, Callejon, Mertens and Insigne in attack.
“We will not manage the match at any point but we will try to win it, as we always do – growled Zidane menacingly. – We know it will be difficult, the Champions League is like this but we are ready and prepared to face it. I expect a lot of intensity from Napoli also because I know San Paolo, a field where the fans can make the difference."
Respect yes, fear no: after all, reigning European champions Real Madrid cannot tremble in front of anyone. Zizou also starts from an important advantage and knows that a goal would definitively extinguish the Neapolitan ardor, which is why he will not distort the characteristics of his but rather will try to score as soon as possible.
The 4-3-3 blanco will see Keylor Navas in goal, Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo in the back, Modric, Casemiro and Kroos in the midfield, Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in the offensive trident. Big names, that are scary just to write them. But Napoli must try to go beyond logic: after all, epic companies are only done in this way.
