In Serie A we know the champion (we knew it before the new year): Napoli, thirty-three years after Diego. What we don’t know yet is who escapes relegation. Apart from Sampdoria, nobody is mathematically relegated yet. No, not even Cremonese.
Serie A has the winner it deserves: Napoli. Napoli wins a trophy every decade, but that’s part of the charm of this unique place. When you win a trophy every decade, it’s another joy, another story, another legend.
Diego Armando Maradona’s posthumous work and Victor Osimhen’s goals
Neapolitans are convinced that Diego Armando Maradona is pulling the strings from the skies. So do the Argentinians (world champions two years after the death of their god, the man who made them world champions in 1986). And maybe those who believe that are right.
But here on earth Napoli became champions with Osimhen’s goals. The young nigerian is the Serie A footballer you can bet your life on to score in every game and win the title of Serie A’s best player.
If anyone can do the impossible, it’s Davide Ballardini
Relegation-bound Verona made the castling with Spezia, who seemed to break down just when they had just a bit left and salvation was in sight. Cremonese also resurrected and I’m convinced that if the season had lasted two more months Cremonese would easily have been saved from relegation.
Spezia lost to Cremonese, who didn’t look like a Serie B team, but rather like one trying to qualify for the European cups. The victories started to come late, close to the arrival of spring, and are linked to a man and a philosophy: Davide Ballardini, a wonder coach, a saviour. Something Leeds’ Big Sam would like to be (but isn’t).
Cremonese managed to knock Napoli out of the Italian Cup, which at the time seemed impossible. So did the salvation from relegation until Ballardini. But now… Perhaps, after all, even Cremona-born Vialli has started too to work his way from heaven, even though he could do nothing for his beloved Sampdoria.
I would therefore urge more attention to Cremonese and its matches. It’s a team that has nothing left to lose and will give everything in the remaining 4 rounds of this Serie A season.
