Last year’s Serie A champions are ninth and their new signing’s debut lasted 4 minutes in the defeat in Turin.
Pasquale Mazzocchi has dedicated his entire life to construction so far. One of the six children born to his parents in Barra, a suburb of Naples, may have easily taken a dangerous path. In some neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, “When you’re struggling to survive [economically] at the end of the month, with a giant family, unfortunately you can do something wrong,” the author of the definition told La Repubblica in 2022. “Other young people have the opportunity to transmit this path.
Football presented him with another direction, a path that would take him away from home. At nine years old, he had started running at a fruit stand after school to save up for his boots. At the age of 11 he joined Benevento. education system, he moves an hour’s drive from home and sees his parents only once a month. His next club Hellas Verona, 440 miles north.
Mazzocchi played his first senior game on loan at Bellaria Igea Marina, Rimini, and over the next decade he would go on to build six other clubs, emerging from fourth place in Serie A and even a call-up to Italy in 2022. Their latest impediment is the closest to us, by far, Salernitana, just 30 miles from Barra on the coast.
Still, it wasn’t yet a return to the roots. Mazzocchi was even a villain in the eyes of some former neighbours when he led Salernitana to a 1-1 draw at the Diego Maradona Stadium last April, denying Napoli the chance to win the league in front of their own fans. His social media accounts after the match were flooded with comments from others telling him: “A true Neapolitan would not have played. “
But this feature could also help you take the last step. Mazzocchi reportedly caught the attention of Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis, who highlighted his history and tenacious presence on the pitch. There were echoes of his own club captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, of some other Italian full-back who rose from the lower leagues to Serie A and the national team.
On Friday, Napoli announced that they had signed Mazzocchi from Salernitana on a permanent basis. “I have finally fulfilled my dream of wearing this shirt,” he said at the inauguration, grabbing the club’s crest to show it to the cameras. “I will see you all in Maradona. “
Napoli’s next home game, coincidentally, will be against Salernitana. Mazzocchi was called to the bench but returned at half-time with his side leading 1-0 thanks to a goal from Antonio Sanabria.
His deyet lasted 4 minutes. That’s what led him to embark on a challenge with Valentino Lazaro with his cleats raised dangerously upwards, connecting with his opponent above the knee. Referee Maurizio Mariani first showed Mazzocchi a yellow card, but changed it to red after viewing the footage on a monitor next to the pitch.
For Napoli, things got worse from there. Torino extended their lead in the 52nd minute with a well-executed shot from Nikola Vlasic on the edge of the D-box box. Alessandro Buongiorno completed a 3-0 rout on his way home from a corner. .
It was a historic win for Turin, their biggest win over Napoli since 1984. They hadn’t even scored in their last 4 home games against those opponents.
Ivan Juric has done a remarkably consistent job since becoming manager of Torino in 2021, steering them to consecutive 10th-place finishes. They occupy that same position at the midway point of this campaign, but it is rare to see them piling up the goals like they did on Sunday.
Inter Milan 2-1 Verona, Frosinone 2-3 Monza, Lecce 1-1 Cagliari, Sassuolo 1-1 Fiorentina, Empoli 0-3 Milan, Turin 3-0 Napoli, Udinese 1-2 Lazio, Salernitana 1-2 Juventus, Roma 1 -1 Atalanta
Juric was rewarded for his decision to start with two strikers – something he resisted earlier in the campaign. Duván Zapata and Sanabria combined directly for the opener, the Colombian’s heel flick sending his partner through on goal. They each could have had another at 2-0, when Sanabria hit a post and Zapata’s rebound was blocked by the goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini at close range.
“We’re having fun,” Juric said full-time, “it seems like we’re a lot more harmful than we used to be. “But even he is quick to admit that: “Today, I don’t know to what extent [the result] comes down to the things we did right and the things they did wrong. “
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Napoli is in free fall, in ninth place and already with 22 defeats at the corresponding level last year. The appointment of Walter Mazzarri to reposition Rudi Garcia in November, a familiar face destined to stabilize the shipment and lead it safely through the end of this season. “It backfired terribly, causing it to sink even faster than before.
Since winning his first game, an impressive 2-1 away result to Atalanta, Mazzarri has racked up nine games and lost six. Napoli beat a modest Braga, despite having twice as many shots as they took, to qualify for the knockout level of the Champions League, but that’s the only silver lining. They were eliminated from the Coppa Italia with a 4–0 loss to Frosinone.
Surprisingly, a team that led Serie A with 77 goals last season has failed to score in 4 consecutive matches. Their top scorer, Victor Osimhen, will now be out for several weeks at the Africa Cup of Nations, as will the starting midfielder. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa.
Napoli’s sporting director, Mauro Meluso, insisted at full time that the club still had “maximum faith” in Mazzarri and that there had been no discussions about replacing him. There were conflicting reports in Neapolitan media claiming, and then denying, that the manager had tried to resign. The presence of Antonio Conte watching in the stands served further grist to the rumour mill.
The truth is that Napoli’s disorders run much deeper than Mazzarri’s. It is De Laurentiis who will have to shoulder the responsibility of quickly dismantling a winning team, underestimating the paints of former coach Luciano Spalletti and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, spoiling his succession, failing to properly update Kim Min-jae as a centre-back and many other mistakes.
Signing Mazzocchi so temporarily in this transfer window reflects a sense of urgency to replace things. Napoli are also reportedly close to closing a deal to sign Lazar Samardzic from Udinese and have also connected with other players. It is very likely that none of them will suffer such a disastrous situation. start like the Italian. But it’s also hard to believe how a January signing can mask the cracks of a failed campaign.