Victory over Manchester City
was not enough to guarantee Napoli progress to the Champions
League knockout stage, but it was enough to spark
significant celebrations across the city and the rest of Italy. Few
had expected Napoli to have their fate in their own hands at this
stage of a group featuring City, Bayern Munich and Villarreal.
"Even a piece of marble would have given in to the emotion," writes
Maurizio Crosetti in La Repubblica of a mad night at the
Stadio San Paolo.
Napoli's opponents, after all, had been not only the Premier
League leaders but also one of the most expensively assembled
ensembles the world has ever seen. It was a point that the Italian
press were keen to linger on as they looked back on the night's
events. "That City may be rich," notes Luigi Garlando in Wednesday
morning's Gazzetta dello Sport, "But the city of Naples tonight is
far richer – with joy and with dreams."
"Sometimes miracles do happen," proclaims Il Mattino, while
Fabrizio Bocca in La Repubblica also reflects on the unlikeliness
of such a scenario. "At this point Napoli ought to have been dead
and buried in the notorious Group A, which everyone back at the
draw in August greeted as unfortunate and simply insurmountable for
[Walter] Mazzarri's Napoli," he says. "Sometimes you need to go at
that wall of scepticism around you with a pick axe. Napoli did just
that, savaging the team of the moment, City, who have been trotting
around England and Europe with all these great champions and with a
€250m hole in their finances – created in just one year."
Indeed, for all their spending, there was widespread agreement
that City had been a rather underwhelming proposition. "English TV
must have a system that speeds up the images when they broadcast
Premier League games," writes Marco Ansaldo in La Stampa. "There is
no other way to explain why the Manchester City we've seen running
on TV all season were instead only walking, with a slowness of
step, passing and thoughts that surprised us."
That sentiment is reflected in Gazzetta's ratings, where
Roberto
Mancini receives five out of 10 for his performance as
manager. "Having disembarked in Naples as a new footballing pope,
Mancini leaves as a cardinal," reflects Sebastiano Vernazza. "Too
much possession just for the sake of it." His colleague Garlando
adds: "Manchester [City], strengthened by the €910m spent by Sheikh
Mansour, dictated the play for a long time, but often with the
presumptuousness of [the] well-to-do: their attitude in possession
was leisurely and fanciful."
But more than City's negatives, of course, they were keen to
dwell on the positives for a Napoli side who were playing in the
third tier as recently as the 2005-06 season. "Who would have
dreamed of such a thing, five years ago?" exclaims Stefano Agresti
in Corriere dello Sport. "A madman, maybe. Or perhaps not even
him." In Il Giornale, Marcello Di Dio says: "In one evening Napoli
transformed themselves from the ugly duckling of the group into a
beautiful swan ready to open its wings."
Back in La Repubblica, meanwhile, Crosetti believes Mazzarri's
side should be proud of their football heritage. "Mazzarri should
not be offended if he hears people talking about his team playing
'Italian style'," says Crosetti, referencing how Napoli allowed
City to keep so much possession. "Through history, this approach
has led to many triumphs – World Cups, Champions Leagues – even
against opponents who seemed unbeatable. Napoli is the modern
interpreter of this tradition. They don't use catenaccio,
but they know how to close themselves up and then inject some
venom."