Napoli Home 1986/1987

Napoli Home 1986/1987
Napoli won its very first Serie A title with recently crowned World Cup winner Diego Maradona as their most influential player. Central defender Ciro Ferrara got his breakthrough, helping out the team to win the trophy. The two new signings Andrea Carnevale and Fernando De Napoli. Proved crucial in the title-winning campaign, which sparked off fanatical celebrations in Naples.

Maradona

Maradona arrived in Naples and was presented to the world media as a Napoli player on 5 July 1984, where he was welcomed by 75,000 fans at his presentation at the Stadio San Paolo. Sports writer David Goldblatt commented, “The fans were convinced that the savior had arrived.” A local newspaper stated that despite the lack of a “mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona”. Prior to Maradona’s arrival, Italian football was dominated by teams from the north and centre of the country.

With the likes of A.C. Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan, and AS Roma. No team in the south of the Italian Peninsula had ever won a league title. This was perhaps the perfect scenario for the Maradona. His working-class-sympathetic image fitted right away. He joined a once-great team that was facing relegation at the end of the 1983–84 Serie A season. In what was the toughest and most highly regarded football league in Europe.

At Napoli, Maradona reached the peak of his professional career. He soon inherited the captain’s armband from Napoli veteran defender Giuseppe Bruscolotti. And quickly became an adored star among the club’s fans. In his time there he elevated the team to the most successful era in its history. Maradona played for Napoli at a period when north–south tensions in Italy were at a peak due to a variety of issues. Notably the economic differences between the two. Led by Maradona, Napoli won their first ever Serie A Italian Championship in 1986–87.

Goldblatt wrote, “The celebrations were tumultuous. A rolling series of impromptu street parties and festivities broke out contagiously across the city in a round-the-clock carnival which ran for over a week. The world was turned upside down. The Neapolitans held mock funerals for Juventus and Milan, burning their coffins, their death notices announcing ‘May 1987, the other Italy has been defeated. A new empire is born.'”Murals of Maradona were painted on the city’s ancient buildings, and newborn children were named in his honour. The following season, the team’s prolific attacking trio, formed by Maradona, Bruno Giordano, and Careca, was later dubbed the “Ma-Gi-Ca” (magical) front-line.

Napoli would win their second league title in 1989–90. Finish runners up in the league twice, in 1987–88 and 1988–89. Other honours during the Maradona era at Napoli included the Coppa Italia in 1987. As well as a second-place finish in the Coppa Italia in 1989. The UEFA Cup in 1989, and the Italian Supercup in 1990.

During the 1989 UEFA Cup Final against Stuttgart, Maradona scored from a penalty in a 2–1 home victory in the first leg, later assisting Careca’s match-winning goal, while in the second leg on 17 May—a 3–3 away draw—he assisted Ciro Ferrara’s goal with a header. Despite primarily playing in a creative role as an attacking midfielder, Maradona was the top scorer in Serie A in 1987–88 with 15 goals. He was the all-time leading goalscorer for Napoli, with 115 goals, until his record was broken by Marek Hamšík in 2017. When asked who was the toughest player he ever faced, A.C. Milan central defender Franco Baresi stated it was Maradona, a view shared by his Milan teammate Paolo Maldini.

Although Maradona was successful on the field during his time in Italy, his personal problems increased. His cocaine use continued, and he received US$70,000 in fines. Also for missing games and practices, ostensibly because of “stress”. He faced a scandal there regarding an illegitimate son. And he was also the object of some suspicion over an alleged friendship with the Gamorra crime syndicate. He also faced intense backlash and harassment from some local fans after the 1990 World Cup. In which he and Argentina beat Italy in a semi-final match at the San Paolo stadium. Napoli retired the number 10 jersey in 2000. On 4 December 2020, nine days after Maradona’s death, Napoli’s home stadium was renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

The Shirt
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