Goals, blows and many, many controversies. The 2012/13 Italian football season starts just as it ended, with the referees in the eye of the storm. Napoli's choice not to participate in the final award ceremony is emblematic, an unsportsmanlike and incomprehensible gesture, especially if you consider that the games have just begun. A far from encouraging signal, yet another bad impression of our football, which has also been broadcast worldwide. Better to talk about the game, a spectacle of a much higher level (thankfully!) than the excesses of the Neapolitan managers. Napoli played it perfectly throughout the first half, letting Juve vent (20 minutes of great intensity) and then hitting their weak point: the high defence. Conte will have to work a lot on this aspect, because the two Azzurri goals, albeit very beautiful, stem from obvious black and white mistakes. First Lucio (here we go again…) gets on late leaving Cavani a prairie: the Matador is stopped by Buffon, then he adjusts the ball on his right and scores the goal that unlocks the game.
Juve poured into the Napoli midfield, but the pressure was sterile and to beat De Sanctis we needed a magic from Asamoah, capable of hitting the ball with a splendid left-footed volley. Napoli does not break down, also because the Juventus error is always lurking. And so Pandev took advantage of Bonucci's indecision to appear alone in front of Buffon; the mirror is closed, to find the opening it takes a stroke of genius. The Macedonian "spoons" with his left foot, the goal is a masterpiece. In the second half Conte (or Carrera, depending on your point of view) leaves the disoriented Matri in the locker room to insert Vucinic: it is the move that splits the match. The Montenegrin came close to equalizing with a great left foot that De Sanctis sent over the crossbar, then a few minutes later he dribbled past the goalkeeper, but his shot was blocked by Cannavaro. The script is that of the first half: Juve plays, Napoli restarts and almost finds the goal to make it 3-1, but this time Cavani is too selfish and prefers to finish (badly) rather than serve Hamsik in the center of the area.
The minutes pass, the match gets nervous. The Azzurri players, mostly placed in front of the defence, hit hard and Mazzoleni began to issue yellow cards in series. The episode that unleashes the fight, however, arrives in the 72nd minute: Fernandez tackles Vucinic in the area, for the referee it's a penalty. Shareable decision but not for Napoli and for Mazzarri, who ironically observes the ball kicked by Vidal ending up in the net. In the following 18 minutes, everything happens: Pandev says something (his lip is indecipherable) to assistant Stefani, Mazzoleni pulls out the direct red light. Then, 2 seconds from the end of added time (!), Zuniga goes in hard on Giovinco, making up for the second yellow card which costs him the expulsion (the first yellow card, however, needs to be reviewed, very questionable). Napoli is 9, Mazzarri is not there and yells on the bench: the referee expels him too. With this spirit we go to extra time, with Juve now decidedly favourites. The goal that decides the match arrives in the 97th minute, "thanks" to Maggio who casually deflects the ball into his goal. Napoli tries to react, but has none left and in the 102nd minute suffers the blow of the knockout. The flying assist for Marchisio who unmarks Vucinic face to face with De Sanctis is splendid: for the Montenegrin, scoring is child's play. Thus ends with Juve celebrating the trophy lifted to the sky by Captain Buffon and Napoli foaming with rage in the locker room. The years go by, the scenarios change, but Italian football always remains the same. For better and, above all, for worse.
