Great Calcio Sides – Maradona’s Napoli

Date: 18th April 2011 at 1:11am
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Napoli’s wonderful form this season and ambitious title push may seem out of the ordinary for a club who have just returned to the higher echelons of Italian football in recent years but this is certainly not the case for the Naples club. During the late 1980s, under the leadership of Argentine superstar Diego Maradona, the club were the best in the country and one of the most feared sides in Europe. Today under the presidency of Aurelio de Laurentiis, the San Paolo side are beginning to remind supporters of the glory days that many thought would never return after Maradona left the side. However, the fans have remained loyal and flocked to the San Paolo in great numbers no matter what division their side were playing in and this is their reward. The famous stadium is rocking once more just as it did in the days of Diego.

Having returned to Serie A in 1965 and armed with the new name of Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli, they very nearly came close to winning a famous Scudetto over the next decade as they finished in the top 3 on quite a few occasions. However, even with a great many stars such as Antonio Juliano, Dino Zoff, Omar Sivori and record league appearance holder Giuseppe Bruscolotti in their ranks, the side were perennial bridesmaids and never quite managed to achieve what so many in Naples craved. However, all of this was to change in 1984 with the arrival of one Diego Armando Maradona. The club were struggling at the time and took a massive risk by investing a then world record 12 million Euros in the signing of Maradona from Barcelona that summer. In fact, 90,000 people showed up at Maradona’s unveiling at the stadium in anticipation of what he would bring to them and they would not be disappointed. At this time one newspaper went as far as to declare that despite the lack of a “mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona.” He responded to the pressure like any true champion would.

It is astonishing that one man could have such a big impact on not just not the team and the club but the entire city of Naples and its people. But this was exactly what the diminutive Argentine was to achieve in his spell in Italy and he even now says that Naples was and always will be a “second home to me because they are my people and I will always love them.” In fact, Diego’s influence on the city was so strong that during the World Cup semi final in 1990 which was held at Napoli’s San Paolo stadium in which his Argentina side faced their Italian hosts, Diego encouraged the Neopolitans to cheer for Argentina as they were “his people” and rallied them to go against their country who often treated them unfairly. It worked and the locals who held Maradona in such god-like esteem obliged the forward and Italy were subsequently eliminated from the competition.

Along with the new man, more key players were brought in to add to an already decent side to form a formidable squad. The likes of hard man defender Ciro Ferrara, midfielders Salvatore Bagni and Fernando De Napoli and forwards Andrea Carnevale, Bruno Giordano and Careca were to form the core of an impressive side. In fact the forwards joined Maradona in attack to create a devastating front trio who were to become known as Ma-Gi-Ca. Ottavio Bianchi led the side to their first ever championship before Alberto Bigon continued his good work afterwards. It took the team a while to settle after Maradona joined the club as they achieved very repsectable eigth and third placed finishes in his first two years as il Pibe d’Oro hit 25 goals in this time. Exciting times lay ahead though it was to be season 1986-87 when the Azzurri were to really hit their stride.

The side would play some truly magnificent football during this time and success soon followed. By the beginning of May in 1987, Napoli met Fiorentina at the San Paolo in Serie A knowing that a draw would be enough to secure them not only their first ever Scudetto, but the first time the league title would go south of Rome to Southern Italy. Everyone flocked to the stadium for the occasion and it has been said that no-one walked the streets of Naples that day as everyone was inside the ground. Andrea Carnevale put the home side ahead on the day and a landmark first senior goal for a certain Roberto Baggio levelled it before half time. Nobody else was to score and wild celebrations soon followed in Naples. The city came to a complete standstill as thousands poured out of the stadium down to the sea front to revel in their great triumph.

Buses blocked the roads, a giant blue snake of Napoli fans danced their way along the streets, fans danced on the rooftops and many partied dressed in curly black wigs as sported by the King of Naples. The Dante statue in the city had a replica league trophy attached to it as scenes of utter bedlam unfolded. Illegal videos were sold to supporters of themselves celebrating in the streets as fans actually bought videos of their own celebrations and mass hysteria began to descend on the seaside city. The vicoli and piazzas were draped in blue and white as huge parties were staged with locals cooking for each other on massive tables in the streets as the community bonded together to celebrate this victory of all victories. Rarely has a league title win been so widely celebrated in a city. The carnival in Naples was to reach fever pitch and is perhaps best summed up by the now famous sign that was hung over the city cemetery which read “guagliu! E che ve sit pers!” which translates as “you don’t know what you’re missing.” This dark yet playful humour is a great characteristic of the Neopolitan people and was further demostrated by the “Juventus funerals” that were staged as black and white draped coffins and death notices announced the death of Juve. Atalanta were also promptly beaten by four goals in the Coppa Italia final as Napoli romped their way to a deserved double.

Floats depicting massive figures of Diego were paraded around the city with the likes of Michel Platini and Karl Heinz Rummenigge lying at his feet and an estimated 20,000 people wrote “Viva Maradona” on their ballot papers during the local elections. It truly was Maradona-mania in Naples. Unfortunately for the locals though the party was not to be repeated the following year as the club could not defend their crown, finishing second after collecting one point from their final four games (which remains a mystery to this day) handing Milan the title and crashed out of the European Cup in the early stages. However, the following year the club would return stronger than ever despite the fact that it seemed that their talisman would leave. Maradona stayed though and the club would go on to achieve European glory to add to the trophy cabinet.

Fellow Italians Juventus were disposed of en route to the final as well as German giants Bayern Munich and Greek outfit PAOK before the showdown with VFB Stuttgart over two legs. A Maradona penalty and a late strike from Careca were enough to give the Partenopei the advantage ahead of the second leg in Germany. A thrilling 3-3 draw away from home courtesy of goals from talented Brazilian midfielder Alemao, Ciro Ferrara and Careca secured a sensational UEFA Cup triumph that sparked yet more wild celebrations in the southern city. At times, this Napoli side were truly unplayable and some of the football on show in both games of the final was simply outstanding and deserving of the trophy.

The next season though it was back to basics for the Azzurri as, under the management of Bigon, the club returned fully focused on reclaiming their Scudetto crown and they were not to be denied as the goals of the attacking trio fired the San Paolo side to the second Serie A title in their history. The win was to be tinged with some controversy however as during a game in Bergamo against Atalanta, Napoli were awarded two points for a victory when Alemao was struck by a coin thrown from the crowd. Napoli would go on to win the Scudetto by two points from closest challengers AC Milan. This Milan side were quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with though (and a profile on that particular great side can be found in the same section of this website) and their ascent to the top of Italian football was to signal the downfall of Napoli and Maradona in particular.

Things turned sour for the club in March of 1991 when the Argentine failed a drugs test and Gianfranco Zola began to take centre stage at the club. A fifteen month ban was handed down to Diego and he never pulled on the blue jersey again and joined Sevilla. The club hovered between the relegation places and mid-table for the rest of the decade until their eventual relegation in 1998. However, these days the future is bright once more for Napoli. Under Walter Mazzarri the team are performing wonderfully and even though it now seems very unlikely that they will win their third title this season, things are looking up once more. Inspired by the brilliance of Edinson Cavani (not unlike the influence Diego Maradona once had) and with players like Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Christian Maggio in their ranks, the San Paolo may not have long to wait before they are once more celebrating and hailing a great calcio side in blue.

Follow Padraig Whelan @PWhelan88 on Twitter

 

2 responses to “Great Calcio Sides – Maradona’s Napoli”

  1. Arber says:

    FANTASTICO !!! WONDERFUL RECAP OF THEIR PRIDE !

    Bravo

  2. Ron Carbone says:

    If Milan winn the title this year and the TIM Cup. What place in history would this team hold .If any?