“Luciano Spalletti: The Emotional Journey to Napoli’s First Scudetto in 33 years”

Luciano Spalletti between joy and tears: the dedication to the city and to the family. The first Scudetto of his career in Italy is a mix of emotions that exploded day after day, while waiting for the title, after the point in Udine which brought the Scudetto back to Napoli after 33 years. «Naples is for you – Spalletti said almost shouting, dedicating the triumph to the city – my greatest emotion is to see the Neapolitan fans happy. The problem was getting here, they will be able to overcome certain moments in their lives by thinking about this moment. These people have the right to experience these moments. Now I feel more relaxed, I did it, the happiness ends here». Then tears come when making the dedications, thinking of his brother who died in 2019: “The dedication is for my family, I am thinking of my brother Marcello” he added, showing himself visibly moved.

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An unprecedented Spalletti, who arrived at the Napoli triumph precisely with particular care, neither maniacal nor suffocating, but a methodical attention to teamwork, that group that takes priority over individualities, ready to give everyone an opportunity to become the limelight. Kvara and Osimhen are the absolute protagonists but Zerbin, Gaetano, Zedadka, Gollini had a showcase, with applause and compliments from the coach, exalted for example by his coach when with Atalanta he saved the team with a sensational save to find ready after an ailment of Meret. «Here we have a chance to make victories to write our name in the history of the team. I would like a team of street urchins who believe in their talent and put it into practice against any opponent».

Rewinding the tape of history, in July 2021 Luciano Spalletti began his adventure on the Napoli bench with these sentences, tracing a path that he was able to carry on together with the club until today’s triumph, the third piece of history of the blue club. The most important piece of his career, of a technician born in the chic tourist resort of Certaldo – as well as the birthplace of Boccaccio -, passionate about football and psychology to form a real team, but who had never won the title in Italy so far scudetto also coaching top teams such as Roma (where his clash with Francesco Totti was memorable, which now seems to be in the process of being recomposed) and Inter (there there is a strong contrast with Mauro Icardi). He was more of a prophet abroad than in Italy, capable of winning two championships, a Super Cup and a Cup in freezing St. Petersburg at the helm of Zenit. But now he is a prophet in Naples, immortalized, together with the players, in the blue banners that surround the city. Today at the age of 64, the conquest of the Scudetto in the city that loves him most: «They reminded me – he explains – that I have never won in Italy. If what was not done elsewhere was worth living this with Napoli, I’m glad it was like this.”

Now he is ready with the team to enjoy the long party, the beautiful record victory of Napoli and to feel inside the true joy of a city of which when he arrived he said: «Naples is a stimulating context from every point of view. I can’t wait to get to know her well.” In two years he met her from the panoramic hotel on the gulf in the centre, where he lived his daily life, but also by participating in initiatives in particular with the associations that deal with childhood, to which in these two years he has always looked with eyes of affection. His latest initiatives, far from prying eyes, in Pompeii in a center that takes care of abandoned children. He built the Napoli scudetto in Castel Volturno, transforming Osimhen from anarchist player into champion, making the most of Kvaratskhelia and Kim, the two talents discovered by sports director Giuntoli, unknown to most, like their countries of origin, Georgia and South Korea, and uniting the team to the fullest. He brought his ideas from San Siro to the St. Petersburg stadium, from the Olimpico and now to Maradona he has elevated them to the top, winning in Naples.

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