SSC Napoli

On Friday evening, Napoli’s players and coaching staff boarded a bus at the Konami training centre in Castel Volturno and departed for the Novotel Hotel in Caserta, where they would spend the next 48 hours preparing for Sunday’s Derby del Sole. The shortened ritiro came after one of the Azzurri’s worst performances of the season – a 0-1 defeat to 17th-placed Empoli.In recent days, details have surfaced of a near-physical altercation between two senators of the locker room, Juan Jesus and Giovanni Di Lorenzo. According to CalcioNapoli24, Juan Jesus and Andrè-Frank Zambo Anguisa went behind their captain’s back to plead…

On Thursday, Roma defeated Milan and Atalanta held Liverpool to one goal to advance to the Semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.  With a 50% chance of an Italian club winning the competition, Forza Napoli Press explains the implications of those same clubs ending the Serie A campaign in a Top 7 position. New FormatThe Champions League has been reformatted for the 2024/25 campaign, expanding from 32 teams to 36.  Each domestic league may enter a certain number of teams in the competition, as determined by their respective association coefficients.  Based on the current association coefficient rankings, entries for each…

Between UEFA Euro qualifying and international friendlies, 10 Napoli players have been called up to their respective national teams for the current international break. Victor Osimhen was called up to the Nigeria national team but will not participate in their friendlies against Ghana and Mali as the striker continues to recover from a muscular injury suffered against Barcelona.  Though he travelled with the team to Georgia, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will not be in the lineup for Georgia's UEFA Euro qualifier due to suspension.  With a potential change in formation, Matteo Politano was left out of Luciano Spalletti’s 28-man Azzurri squad. Stay…

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…

Antonio Sanabria levelled the scoreline with a close-range bicycle kick shortly after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring. Forza Napoli Press explored 10 quick takeaways from the 1-1 draw.   1.  Kvara is BackKhvicha Kvaratskhelia was undoubtedly the man of the match. With his fourth goal in three matches, the Georgian reached double-digit goals for a second consecutive season, laying to rest any suggestions that he was a one-season wonder. The Napoli winger led all players with 8 shot attempts, four shots on target and an individual xG of 0.7, benefitting from the freedom Francesco Calzona afforded him to roam. In an…

Napoli Primavera needed an 89th minute own goal to secure all three points in Saturday's match against Monopoli U19. The victory marked the Azzurrini’s fifth win in their last six matches. The run of form coincides with the return of two youth players in late January. Trequartista Alessandro Spavone and striker Antonio Pesce were both loaned to Pro Vercelli in July, following in the footsteps of former Primavera teammates Antonio Vergara and Coli Saco. Neither made much of an impact at the Serie C club. Spavone made 8 appearances (7 starts) through 23 rounds, while Pesce featured only once in the…

On Sunday, Napoli conceded a 96th-minute equalizer to Cagliari, falling further behind in the race for Champions League qualification. The 1-1 draw against the club currently sitting second from the bottom of the table marked the fifth occasion this season that the Azzurri have dropped points to clubs in the bottom half of the table. Consistent with recent performances under Walter Mazzarri, the visitors struggled to create quality chances, generating an xG of only 1.1.  However, there were some positive signs that Napoli are finally heading in the right direction under Francesco Calzona, who made his league debut on the…

After Saturday’s draw to Genoa at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, rumours have begun to swirl about the possible dismissal of supposed caretaker coach Walter Mazzarri. Mazzarri returned to Napoli after a Matchday 12 defeat to Empoli that left the reigning champions fourth in the table, 10 points behind league leaders Inter.  In his 12 league matches in charge, Napoli have managed only four wins and three draws, tumbling to ninth in the table. It’s long been a foregone conclusion that Napoli will not retain the Scudetto - the gap to the top has become a 27-point chasm. Worse yet, even…

“Everything that has happened until now is my sole responsibility,” said Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, addressing the media after his club’s scoreless draw to Monza. “Therefore, none of the blame must lie on the players or the coaches, but they are my faults for which I assume full responsibility. And therefore, for this very reason, I must somehow apologize to Neapolitans and especially to all Napoli fans if we are where we are in the standings. But, I think the season is long and therefore we will use the transfer market to make up for lost time.”Napoli have since…

On the 29th of December, Nikita Contini made his Serie A debut, replacing Alex Meret in the second half of Napoli’s scoreless draw against Monza.  Meret was forced to exit the match with a hamstring injury, while Napoli’s usual Number 2, Pierluigi Gollini, was kept out of the squad after suffering an ankle injury in the pre-match warm-up. It was a long-time coming for the SSC Napoli veteran. Nikita Baranovsky Contini was born in Cherkasy, Ukraine to a Ukrainian mother and Neopolitan father.  At the age of three, Contini and his family moved to Giugliano in Campania - the same…