To say that Napoli have had a sensational year would be an understatement, after finishing sixth last season.
In fact you have to go back twenty-one years, Maradona’s era, to see the southerners challenging for the Scudetto. That season was defined by a 3-0 win against van Basten’s Milan. Mazzarri’s men could have repeated history, instead Milan got revenge.
As the rain came down at the San Siro referee Gianluca Rocchi blew the whistle to get us under way. Milan started, 4-3-3, Abbiati in goal and back-line of Abate, Nesta, Silva and surprisingly Jankuloski. A defensive midfield of; Gattuso, Flamini and Van Bommel complemented by the usual attacking threats of Robinho, Ibrahimovic and Pato.
Napoli started, 3-5-2, with De Sanctis between the sticks. Cannavaro, Aronica and Compagnero made up the three man defense. Gargano, Pazienza, Dossena, Maggio and Hamsik seemed to have no positions, all of them attacked and all of them defended. Mascara and Cavani drifted around up front.
Both sides started cautiously, van Bommel playing well in the centre of midfield, while Gattuso was his usual self, starting a fight with almost everyone. Without Lavezzi for forward momentum Napoli struggled to impose their style of play. Slowly but surely Milan continued to press and prod Napoli. But, the final ball was lacking and all three attackers were extreamly wasteful.
Napoli were content to blast the ball up to Cavani, who could do nothing with it. Towards the end of the first half Pato got a needless booking for pushing Aronica, after he wouldn’t let go off the ball. Allegri’s side dominated affairs, to the disappointment of Mazzarri who was getting visibaly frustrated with his three man defence. Van Bommel’s blocked shot was the only real chance of the half.
Milan continued to boss the game and De Sanctis’s finger tips prevented van Bommel from putting the Rossoneri ahead. After just three minutes into the second half, Rocchi awarded a penalty to Milan. The appeared to have been handled by Aronica, who was immediatly booked. But the ball looked to be out of play, even the Milan players looked confused. Nonetheless Ibrahimovic stepped up, and cooly dispatched it into the bottom corner. La Curva Sud erupted, 1-0 Milan.
Napoli completely fell apart after that, I couldn’t even tell what formation they were playing. Unlike the Napoli of 89′, no one stepped up to deal with the problem. Hamsik in particular was quiet and Cavani was playing out of position without Lavezzi.
Allegri didn’t settle though, he made the first substitution of the evening. Bringing on Kevin-Prince Boateng for Robinho, who had just started to find his feet. The Prince looked eager, fit and ready for the battle. Pato was running rings around Cannavaro, and ten minutes later he set up Boateng. Rushing in to the box Pato squared it to Boateng, who finished it with the outside of his foot. He beat everyone to it, he wanted it more, but for some reason he took his shirt off and was booked.
Five minutes later Pato went from provider to finisher. A counter-attack left Pato up against two men who stood off him, he looked to be waiting for back-up, but instead curled the ball around De Sanctis. Giving him no chance, after his goal against Chievo last week, the young Brazilian has really stamped his authority on the Milan attack.
Game over for Napoli, they never even tried. Milan fully deserved the win and now sit on fifty-eight points. Five ahead of Inter, but they still have to play them again in April. The next challenge will be Juventus this weekend. Napoli will have to rebuild and hope Milan slip up. They could have done with a Maradona!
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