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Football, Italy 1 (M)
The atmosphere at San Paolo will be festive, but it’s questionable what the line ups of both team will look like, since both teams lack real motivation to get a good result
With his club lifting a trophy on Saturday, Rafael Benitez finally proved the decision to hire him was right. Napoli weren’t able to cope with Juventus and Roma in the championship, so the Cup final win helped them with the fans, who unfortunately covered the front pages of the Italian media instead of the great game at the Olimpico. The final game was delayed for 45 minutes because the conditions at the stadium weren’t safe enough following the attacks on Napoli fans in Rome. Napoli opened the game furiously, having scored two goals early on. Despite being the better team for the most part of the game, they didn’t secure the win till the very end. Inler got nervous and was sent off, Ilicic failed to score the equalizer for Fiorentina, and Mertens then scored once again to confirm the win for Napoli.
Benitez was thrilled after winning yet another trophy as a coach:
- I think it was a good game. We were in control after scoring 2-0 right at the start, it looked easy, but Fiorentina then got back in the game. We knew we were going to win together lose together. I am happy with my team’s performance. Fiorentina are a powerful team and we worked hard to beat team.
The question now is, who will play for Napoli today after that exhausting final in Rome, and the big celebration that followed it. Benitez said he will reshuffle the line up since key players such as Raul Albiol, Behrami, and Higuainn aren’t at his disposal. The reshuffling doesn’t come as a surprise since only a miracle can take Napoli down from their current third position in Serie A.
Cagliari ensured they would play this division next season as well in the away game against Saussuolo, but their coach still managed to motivate his team to win the last two round games against Genoa and Parma. Cagliari has turned to a more offense oriented game (with three forwards) since coach Lopez left and his former assistant Pulga took over. That kind of game style resulted in better game and better results so the Sardinia-based team used the last three rounds to work on club’s image, which has not been very good this season. They also struggled with the new stadium Is Arenas, a few players left, their president Cellin ended up in jail…
Cagliari didn’t record a single win in the last 9 head to head game with Napoli, and Pulga announced some line up changes:
- Silvestri will have a great debut on the goal. We want to test him in such a special game. I would like to thank Avramov, who’s been great in the key moments and who’s a very valuable person and footballer. We are in for a festive atmosphere since they just won the Cup. We’ll try and end the season the right way. Napoli will have to do their best to beat us, otherwise things might turn out as they did against Catania and Roma.
Just like Benitez with his team, Pulga is the only one who knows to which extent he is going to change the starting line up. Silvestri will, as he said, replace Avramov on the goal, and Ibarbo, Sau, and Ibraimi will be the forwards. Offensive midfielder Ekdal and forward Pinilla will probably miss this game, just like Adryan and Vecino, who have been injured for a while now.