The latest disappointment. Napoli drew 0-0 at home with Lecce and thus even the last hope of achieving a miraculous stay in Europe vanished. With Torino’s defeat in Bergamo meant that the Azzurri would have needed to win to overtake the Granata in the standings and hope for Fiorentina’s victory in the Conference final to be able to qualify for the less noble continental tournament. Instead, Calzona’s team achieved another disappointing draw with Lecce, finishing in tenth place in the standings and confirming all the difficulties experienced in an extremely negative season.
The Maradona crowd booed at the end of the match but they have long been accustomed to the disappointment of their team’s unconvincing performances and the protest was even mild. Osimhen, who came off the bench to play one last piece of the match with the blue shirt, lingered at the end of the match to greet everyone, opposing teammates, managers and various companions. It is a way to underline his farewell to Italian football because as soon as the transfer market opens he will be sold to play in France or England. Boos from the stands also for captain Di Lorenzo when he was replaced with Mazzocchi, probably caused by the recurring rumors of his desire to leave Napoli.
The one seen against the Salento team is the usual Napoli this year, that is to say a team with a slow game, with obvious maneuvers, carried out almost always along horizontal lines or back passes, devoid of any offensive game plan. The absence of Osimhen, injured and brought to the bench by Calzona and only entered in the 19th minute of the second half, does not alone explain the Azzurri’s offensive weakness.
There is a chronic lack of patterns which becomes even more evident when facing an opponent, like Lecce, who is good at always positioning himself behind the line of the ball with almost all of his men, closing off every passing line. This explains the numerical data that characterizes the first half. Napoli have exactly double, in percentage terms, the ball possession compared to Lecce but in the first half of the game they are unable to create any scoring opportunities.
In the second half Calzona immediately sent Ngonge and Raspadori onto the pitch in place of Politano and Simeone and soon the team managed to get closer to Falcone’s goal. But the goalkeeper’s saves and a post and crossbar hit by Cajuste and Ngonge respectively denied the Azzurri the goal of victory and hope. The championship ends exactly as it began last summer, that is to say with disappointing results, performances characterized by a sort of passive resignation, witness to a team without ideas and without a soul.
The disappointed people are now just waiting for the announcement of the new coach’s hiring with the hope that he can lead a real revolution. The happy days of winning the third championship are now just a faded memory.
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