Napoli will play against Barcelona immediately after the change of coach

Today, in the first matches of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, its two favorites will face clubs with sonorous names, but at the same time problematic ones. Or rather, the problematic one is about Porto meeting with Arsenal. Napoli, which had to fight with Barcelona, ​​is a club in a deep crisis, which right before the play-offs of the main European Cup resulted in the second consecutive coaching resignation of the season: Walter Mazzarri was replaced by the head of the Slovak national team, Francesco Calzona.

The dismissal of a club coach a couple of days before the start of the Champions League play-offs is, of course, an emergency. But in the case of Napoli, everyone who cares about this team was ready for something like this.

The Napoli story itself is, in fact, an extraordinary incident, illustrating how fragile and subtle everything in football can be. Last season, Napoli was almost the most trendy club in Europe. Such definitions as “breakthrough” and “revelation” were easily attached to it. Europe admired the lively, uncompromising football delivered by coach Luciano Spalletti, his fast, indomitable fighters, especially Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. She was amazed by the conviction with which Napoli was moving towards the gold of its championship. It was hard to imagine that in the Italian championship, after Juventus lost, someone could have such a clear advantage over their competitors. It seemed that next season Napoli, since it had managed to save its foundation from the encroachments of the football giants who were licking their lips at its leaders, would face a new step forward, for example, in the form of a breakthrough in the Champions League.

Instead of a jerk, there was a fall down. Luciano Spalletti left for the Italian national team, and Rudi Garcia, who took over the vacant post, despite his experience, quickly destroyed almost everything that his predecessor had created. In November, when it was already obvious that his Napoli, although they had reached the cup stage of the Champions League, were completely different from Spalletti’s Napoli, Garcia was kicked out, and Walter Mazzarri, also a seasoned specialist, was appointed instead.

Commenting on his resignation, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis thanked Mazzarri for his “help during a difficult period.” In fact, it is unlikely that the thought of gratitude will occur to any of the ordinary fans of the Neapolitans. Napoli’s performance under Garcia was astonishingly dull for a team filled with players with striking attacking talents. Mazzarri, a fan of reliability and strong defensive schemes, managed to add another drop of melancholy to it, refusing to transform into extra points. He was fired after a draw in the 25th round of the Italian championship with the inexpressive Genoa, which left the country’s still reigning champion at the tail end of the top ten of the table.

Walter Mazzarri’s replacement was chosen unexpectedly. 55-year-old Francesco Calzona has so far had a sparse career with any notable positions – mainly as an assistant coach, including with Luciano Spalletti at Napoli. A contract signed in 2022 with the Slovak Football Federation helped him earn a name. Having led the Slovakian national team, Kalzona achieved undoubted, by its standards, success, securing a ticket to the European Championship, which will take place in Germany in the summer. The Slovaks entered it from second place in the group, although it was unprepossessing: the Portuguese jumped far ahead, and the Calzona football players had competitors from Luxembourgers, Icelanders, Bosnians and Liechtensteiners.

Little is clear about the style and tactical preferences of Francesco Calzona, who will combine club work with preparing the national team for a top tournament. Well, except that it will take time to implement them anyway.

And the Neapolitans’ hopes for a worthy resistance to Barcelona should now be based only on two observations. The first concerns Barcelona itself. The season is also not cloudless for her, and Javi’s recent statement that he will leave his post as mentor after its end can be interpreted as a bold recognition of the already obvious shortage of ideas. Plus, in the winter, mid-level teams often gave Barcelona difficulties, as did Napoli, which were focused on counterattacks. In February, Granada scored three goals against them, and at the end of January, Villarreal scored five. And finally, there is no escape from the theory that the sudden personnel shake-ups experienced by the club may turn out to be meaningless in the long term, but in the short term they sometimes have an unconditional positive effect, invigorating the team for a week or two.

The second match of the day is probably awaited with horror by those who are partial to Porto. The reasons for this are good. The Portuguese club itself this season – well, no, it’s not going into the abyss like Napoli, but it’s also turned sour. In the championship, let’s say, this time he is not a competitor in the fight for gold with the Lisbon clubs – Benfica and Sporting. The game has faded both in general and in detail: Mehdi Taremi was just considered a top-class sniper, and this season he has only half a dozen goals to his name.

But even more important is Arsenal’s form. She’s simply gorgeous. In the last five matches of the championship – five victories with a total score of 21:2. West Ham scored six unanswered goals from Arsenal, and Burnley scored five. Even Liverpool, still two points ahead of the Londoners in the English championship table, looked pale against their background, losing 1:3. It is as difficult to imagine that such an “Arsenal” will stall against a “Porto” that has lost its teeth as it is to imagine the sudden transformation of the sour “Napoli” in the confrontation with “Barcelona”.

Alexey Dospehov