In a recent interview given to the press, Antonio Conte he spoke about when on his debut with Lecce he found himself in midfield dueling with Diego Armando Maradona.
The Maradona stadium evokes a great memory for me: Napoli-Lecce, I had the privilege of marking Maradona. We lost 3-2, but the greatest memory was that of my first goal in Serie A, all while I had to mark Maradona… It was a great satisfaction.
The memory of Napoli-Lecce 3-2 in 1989
In this match there are several destinies that will say “goodbye”. Played on November 5, 1989 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, it was a match that was not at all easy for Mister Bigon’s boys.
Mazzone’s Lecce lined up Terraneo between the posts, followed by Garzya, Marino, Ferri, Righetti, Carannate, Moriero, Levanto, Pasculli, Conte and Virdis. In Napoli they played, among others, Baroni and Di Fusco who was the second goalkeeper.
Which destinies will intertwine in the future or have intertwined in the past?
Moriero will end his career in Napoli playing from 2000 to 2002. Carannate was Neapolitan and came from Naples, as was Raimondo Marino who had already spent most of his career in Campania.
Baroni had instead taken the opposite path, moving from the Giallorossi to Napoli. While Maradona and Pasculli had lifted the World Cup together with Argentina three years earlier. On the bench was Di Fusco who in the Tesoro era was included in the Salento organization chart as goalkeeper coach.
In all of this, the young Antonio Conte, before saying goodbye to the Salento square forever, scored his first goal in Serie A against Napoli in the 46th minute. He equalized the match after Virdis had given his team the lead and Napoli had overturned with the one-two of Fusi and Carnevale. With one minute left, Carnival ruined Conte’s party again, so his goal brought no points to the Giallorossi.
