In one of the busy and bustling streets that stretches from the Piazza del Gesù in the old town of Naples, two men set up a sky blue inflatable tube yesterday afternoon.
They stood on either side of the narrow street and hoisted the tube up onto the first-floor balconies so they could tie it in place. “Napoli” was written on it at regular intervals, with the club’s crest bearing the number three. There was also a logo. ‘Game over,’ he said.
England haven’t even gotten here before tomorrow’s first European Championship qualifier with Italy, but when it touches down today you’ll find the Neapolitans already in a raucous, triumphant frame of mind.
His club leads Serie A by 19 points with 11 games to go and they are not shy about starting celebrations early for what would be just the third scudetto in their history and first in 33 years.
It’s tempting to wonder if, given the circumstances, the Italy-England matchup will be an afterthought, but there’s little hope that it will. Naples is ablaze with passion and fervor, flags and banners hang from nearly every building in the Spanish Quarter’s maze of streets, and there’s a frenetic edge to the mood that suggests the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona will be a cauldron of hostility when Gareth Southgate side running around.
Naples is abuzz with passion and fervor ahead of England’s visit to Italy in their Euro 2024 qualifier. Pictured: clashes between Napoli and Frankfurt fans this month
England know they are in for a pit of hostility when they take on the Azzurri on Thursday.
Maradona’s restless, indefatigable and iconoclastic spirit still dominates this city almost as much as it did when he played here for seven years between 1984 and 1991 and when it merges with Naples’ seething resentment of the way it is looked down upon by much of Italy. it is a recipe for conflict and confrontation.
The ubiquity of his image here, and his history with England, is something else that gives the occasion a sinister feel.
It’s hard to think of a city anywhere in the world that reveres a sports star, past or present, as much as Naples reveres Maradona. There may be a case for Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai, but it doesn’t compare to this one.
Maradona’s face is everywhere. There are shrines to him in the alleyways, giant murals of him, paintings of him dressed as the Pope, photographs of him portrayed as a saint.
At Bar Nilo in the city’s San Lorenzo neighborhood, a lock of Maradona’s hair spins round and round in a small plastic box next to quasi-religious images of him wearing a halo and holding an archbishop’s staff. The walls are decorated with Maradona memorabilia.
Napoli are still mourning the loss of Diego Maradona, and his history with England lends a sinister feel to this game.
A front page of Corriere dello Sport shows Lionel Messi kissing the World Cup in Qatar last December under the headline ‘Maradoha’.
Maradona and Napoli were a perfect fit, outsiders and enemies of the establishment. Maradona helped the city, and southern Italy in general, to finally conquer the north.
He conquered traditional powerhouses AC Milan, Inter and Juventus when he led Napoli to their first league title in 1987. “That league victory marked the social redemption of our city,” said Ciro Ferrara, Maradona’s teammate on the Napoli.
In the 2019 documentary Diego Maradona, brilliantly constructed by Asif Kapadia, the level of disdain for the city and its residents emanating from other Italian teams resonates time and time again.
In a match, Juventus fans launch a series of abusive chants at their opponents. ‘Even the dogs run, too, the Neapolitans are coming’, they sing, ‘Sick with cholera. earthquake victims. You never washed with soap. You are the shame of all Italy, Neapolitan, work hard, because for Maradona, you too will have to sell your ass!
City is on top with Napoli currently sitting 19 points clear at the top of the Serie A standings.
It is the same type of poverty-abuse that the fans of some English clubs still point to Liverpool when they sing: “They look in the garbage cans for something to eat.” There are obvious similarities between the two cities, both vibrant and beautiful ports, but both somehow ‘othered’ by much of the rest of the country, both left feeling discriminated against.
Amidst pennants and banners celebrating the yet-to-be-confirmed title, templates bearing the name of the Brigata Carolina, Napoli’s ultras, are tattooed on walls across the city, as a reminder that England will find an atmosphere that can disturb them. . Italy haven’t played a match in Naples for 10 years and there’s a reason they’ve been chosen to host this one.
It’s the same reason England used to play in Katowice, in the heart of the Silesian coalfields, rather than Warsaw, against slag heaps as a backdrop when they were drawn in the same group as Poland more than once. in the 1990s. It’s a critical game, the home team wants to push England out of their comfort zone and Napoli represent the best chance to do that.
Last week, when Napoli hosted Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League round of 16 second leg, the battles between Napoli ultras, ticketless German supporters and Atalanta supporters who had come for fun , they turned Piazza del Gesu into a scene from a disaster movie.
Images of vehicles on fire ahead of Napoli’s clash against Frankfurt shocked the football world: it’s no surprise there were concerns about crowd troubles on Thursday.
Gareth Southgate’s men will be pushed out of their comfort zone in the first Euro 2024 qualifier
Images of Frankfurt fans launching missiles at Italian police and images of burning vehicles shocked the soccer world. Not surprisingly, there are concerns that there will be more trouble ahead of tomorrow’s game.
Around 3,000 English fans are expected to make the trip to southern Italy and concerns for their safety have already led to the cancellation of a football match between English and Italian fans after a letter threatened 60 ultras would arrive at the venue and they would attack traveling fans.
Everything plays with the idea that England is entering hostile territory. “I felt like I represented a part of Italy that didn’t count for anything,” Maradona said as he recalled his time in Naples and the seething resentment that comes with that sense of alienation is what Italy hopes to take advantage of on Thursday night.
See Naples and die, the romantics said when the city was part of the Grand Tour in the 18th century, meaning that it was such a beautiful city that nothing could beat visiting it.
Roberto Mancini and his team hope they can apply it to the city’s effects on England’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes once tomorrow night is over and the spirit of Maradona dances through the streets again.