On Tuesday, Napoli’s 2023/24 Champions League run came to an end after a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Spain. The Azzurri’s first defeat under Francesco Calzona was the latest in a growing list of disappointments this season.
In December, Napoli exited the Coppa Italia in the Round of 16, suffering an embarrassing 0-4 defeat to newly-promoted Frosinone. Just over a month later, they missed an opportunity to become the first Supercoppa Italiana winners under the new format. With Lautaro Martinez’ 91st-minute winner at the Al-Awwal Park in Saudi Arabia, the Partenopei left a trophy and €3 million on the table.
Last Friday’s 1-1 draw to Torino, combined with Inter’s 0-1 victory over Bologna a day later, left Napoli 33 points behind the league leaders through 28 rounds. Though the reigning champions have trailed the league leaders by at least 10 points since early December, the weekend’s results mathematically guaranteed that Napoli would not wear the scudetto on their shirts next season.
Thus, the defeat to Barcelona was not terribly shocking. Had it not been for recent improvements under Calzona, the result might have been expected. However, prior to Tuesday, Calzona’s side were undefeated in the coach’s five matches in charge, including a 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Juventus. In less than a month, the former assistant to Maurizio Sarri and Luciano Spalletti transformed Napoli’s style of play, which finally resembles that of last season.
That gave Napoli supporters hope, playing against a Barcelona side who, ravaged by injuries, will also not repeat as domestic champions this season. However, Barcelona’s form had also improved since before the first leg. The Blaugrana were undefeated in their previous eight matches and who, despite their struggles, had suffered only three league defeats all season. Indeed, they had two teenagers in their starting XI, but one is drawing comparisons to Lionel Messi and the other put in a Man of the Match performance. In addition to the teenagers, the starting XI featured five Champions League winners (plus two more off the bench), coached by Xavi, who won the competition four times as a player.
Perhaps Napoli could have been better prepared mentally for the return leg. Calzona addressed this question in his pre-match press conference, explaining that there was little need to motivate his players for a Champions League match – echoing Spalletti’s comments from last season – and that, in the little time he had to prepare for the match, he focused on tactics.
“If you are afraid, you shouldn’t bother showing up. You have to have courage to face a strong opponent who has done well lately. [We must] be aware that we are strong, that Napoli must play in all respects on an equal footing with the opponent to try to win the match,” he said. “It’s clear that, as Matteo said, you don’t have to do much to make the team understand the importance of this match; a match that takes on a life of its own because not everyone gets to play in a Champions League Quarter-final against an opponent of this level. So from that point of view, I didn’t use much time for that. We concentrated on other things – where we have defects, where we need to improve – because in these matches, conceding certain things can be fatal.”
Though Barcelona were deserved winners over 180 minutes, their second-leg victory was certainly not trivial. Napoli would have scored a second had it not been for a Marc-André ter Stegen finger tip save on Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s header, Mathias Olivera’s effort crashing off the frame of the goal or Jesper Lindstrøm missing the target with a free header in front of the goal. Likewise, the outcome might have been different had some questionable officiating decisions gone the other way. In the first half, Andreas Christensen risked being sent off shortly after Barcelona’s second goal for a lunging, studs-up tackle on Stanislav Lobotka. Although, a red card would have been harsh considering Victor Osimhen was offside in the buildup. In the second half, Pau Cubarsi appeared to foul Osimhen in the area but the penalty wasn’t given. Some have suggested Osimhen was in an offside position in the buildup to that play as well, where he often found himself throughout the match. However, Ronald Araújo appeared to play him on, hence why Napoli were awarded a corner kick.
Match official Danny Makkelie is highly regarded, but the decisions in favour of the Spanish giant, who ranked 4th in Deloitte’s Football Money League 2024, have fueled speculation about UEFA’s motives. Aurelio De Laurentiis, a recent proponent of the European Super League, is under investigation for pulling Matteo Politano away from an interview with Sky Sport before assaulting a cameraman on Monday.
The Napoli president is reportedly preparing an appeal to FIFA to exclude Juventus from the 2025 Club World Club. Juventus automatically qualified for the reformatted tournament as a result of Napoli’s defeat to Barcelona. FIFA didn’t waste any time, immediately posting a video of association president Gianni Infantino congratulating Juventus on their qualification to the Club World Cup. In addition to the €11.3-13.4 million left on the table for failing to advance to the Round of 16 (€10.6 million for advancing plus €2.8 million for a Round of 16 victory or €0.7 million for a Round of 16 draw), Napoli are expected to miss out on €50 million of guaranteed revenue for failing to qualify for Club World Cup.
Despite the numerous disappointments of this season, Napoli still have something left to play for. Even after all three remaining Italian clubs exited the Champions League, Serie A remains top of the European coefficient rankings by a significant margin. Consequently, Serie A is a heavy favourite to earn a fifth qualification place for next season’s 36-team competition.
The Azzurri are currently 7 points behind Bologna, who occupy the 4th spot in the table. Bologna (51 points) will benefit from the upcoming international break, sandwiched between matches against Empoli and Salernitana, as top goalscorer Joshua Zirkzee is expected to be out for four weeks due to a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, Roma (48 points) have shot up to fifth in the table since Daniele De Rossi replaced Jose Mourinho, earning six wins, one draw and one defeat during that time. However, most of those results were against lesser opposition, while the loss and draw were against Inter and Fiorentina, respectively. Roma have a difficult run-in, made more difficult by a potential deep run in the Europa League. The Giallorossi advanced to the Quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday, defeating Brighton & Hove Albion 1-4 on aggregate.
Likewise, 6th-placed Atalanta (47 points) and 8th-placed Fiorentina (43 points) could have very busy schedules as well. The two clubs will square off against each other in a two-legged Coppa italia semi-final in April. Meanwhile, both advanced in their respective European Cup competitions on Thursday. Atalanta defeated Sporting CP 2-1 (3-2 on aggregate) in the second leg of their Europa League tie, while Fiorentina drew Maccabi Haifa 1-1 (5-4 on aggregate) in the second leg of their Conference League tie.
With only one competition to focus on and upcoming matches against each of their direct rivals, Napoli still control their own destiny. All is not lost. Where there is hope, there is room for more disappointment.
