It's not crucial, but it could be - the derby between Napoli and Inter (tonight at 18pm) has enormous weight in the fight for the Scudetto.
The "Azure" were the leaders of Serie A for a long time, and then a month ago things went downhill as a series of three draws followed, followed by a defeat against Como last Sunday, which launched the current champion to the top.
Inter now has a point, which is why many believe that tonight's triumph would deal a blow from which Antonio Conte's team would have a hard time recovering...
However, since the "Nerazuris" have not been shining in derbies this season (in 10 games with teams fighting for the top of the table, they have four wins, three losses and a draw), Napoli knows that they have a chance to turn things around in their favor.
- Black February? What we went through is a trifle compared to how we looked in August - Conte reminds us of the Napoli team's poor start to the season.
Napoli does not play in Europe, they were eliminated early from the Coppa Italia, while Inter has a "full" calendar, as they still have big battles ahead of them in the Champions League (a round of 16 match against Feyenoord) and the Cup, where they reached the semi-finals (the derby against Milan follows).
- I told the players that the position in the table should not create pressure on them. We deserved to be first and for a long time I could not even imagine that we would be playing such an important game with 12 rounds to go. Now we will see in 90 minutes who is better and more prepared - added Conte.
The former Inter coach, with whom he won the 2021 Scudetto, cannot count on an important player in the midfield - Andre-Franco Angisa.
- How will we do without him? I wonder that too, I have time until the game to think about what we can do - said Conte.
The good news for his colleague Simone Inzaghi is that Marcus Thuram has recovered.
- He's in the game for the starting 11, but we'll see - said Inzaghi and continued:
- We need a perfect match, and this season we haven't been at that level in derbies. We're not following the path we had last season and we need to be better.
Inter wants to defend the title they won dominantly in the 2023/24 season at all costs.
- A win would be very important from a psychological point of view, it would also make a difference in the standings, but we have to be aware that no matter how this derby ends - there are still 11 rounds left and 34 rounds to go - Inzaghi made it clear.
He cannot count on goalkeeper Jan Sommer, as well as Carlos Augusto, Matteo Darmian and Nikola Zalevski.
- It has never happened in my career that I didn't have a winger on the bench in a single game - concluded the former Lazio coach.
Bonus video:
