Naples. “We are happy for the affection of the city, but we must continue to work: we are 72 points away from the Champions League zone…”.
Luciano Spalletti, with his fifth consecutive victory, the second away from home, scoring four goals without conceding a single one, is alone in first place with a start to the championship on the Napoli bench like no other Neapolitan coach had ever been able to do.
"Today we had a good result, but in the first half we found a Sampdoria that made life difficult for us. In the first half our best quality was to suffer on their plays. Well done Ospina and the defense that had to make do somehow", explained the Napoli coach.
And then he added: “Sampdoria were very good in the first half, they threw themselves immediately and then when teams do that, any ball behind the halfway line becomes an important situation because Osimhen is strong. These are plays that you have to recognize, balls thrown into the void are difficult for the opposing defense to read. The one-on-one that they did well in the first half makes it difficult to make the technique that we have count. We directed it towards individual plays and after the lead, the second half was not difficult”.
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Even today Anguissa was among the best on the pitch: "The game is a box that needs to be filled with things. We have some qualities but we lack something and he immediately understood what, so to do this he spends much more of his energy". Leading with full points and “leader” of this Napoli, Spalletti concluded: “We enjoy this impossible affection, this sentimental involvement that the city has for these colours, but we must continue to work calmly because in recent years the Champions League average has been 85-87 points, so we are still missing 72. It is clear that to get all these points we need to go and win on difficult pitches”.
Mariani whistles for the big Juventus-Napoli match, Colombo at the Olimpico for Roma-Milan.
Rome – Matchday 22 of the 2025/26 Serie A season promises to be packed with high-profile refereeing action. The Italian Referees Association has released the official refereeing appointments: key matches include Juventus-Napoli, refereed by Maurizio Mariani of the Aprilia section, scheduled for Sunday, January 25th at 6:00 PM, and Roma-Milan, refereed by Andrea Colombo of…
Juve, Spalletti: "We were too timid, Napoli were stronger. When Maradona sings, it's always a thrill..."
The Maradona defeat leaves Luciano Spalletti with more questions than certainties. The Juventus coach acknowledges his team's setback and does so frankly, emphasizing that Napoli deserved the victory. "Napoli were stronger than us today. I honestly can't say how different our level is from theirs, but it's clear we can do much better. We were too timid in possession, and in midfield we didn't create the superiority that could have changed the game for us. They, with their quality, left us running around empty," he told DAZN.
The match became difficult for Spalletti from the first 45 minutes, primarily due to the attitude of his forwards. "In the first half, we had little mobility up front. In the second half, we opted for man-to-man play, but Napoli knew how to use speed and technique to turn the game around every time we left them an opening. We were too academic, we took few risks, and we almost never tried to force anything," observed the Juventus coach, highlighting a lack of courage that ultimately affected the entire match.
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