Napoli take on Roma in Sunday’s clash in the Italian Serie A where events off the field will more than likely dominate proceedings as the recent death of former Napoli star, Diego Maradona, filtered through the media yesterday.
It’s a real shame that Napoli’s fans will be unable to pay tribute to their idol inside the ground for this fixture but rest assured many will congregate outside the Stadio San Paulo (soon to be renamed in Diego Maradona’s honour), to pay their respects.
The actual match does appear to pale into insignificance but Napoli will be keen to bounce back from last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at home to league leaders, AC Milan, and they won’t need any greater incentive to bounce back with a win than this Sunday.
The hosts still occupy 6th place and all three points in this encounter would see Napoli move level on points with their 3rd placed visitors, Roma, but while Napoli’s results at home have been fairly inconsistent to date with two wins and two defeats, goals have been a feature as three of their four matches have resulted in over 2.5 goals.
Roma may well feel as though they’re a bit of a spare part in this upcoming fixture but make no mistake, they too will also be well motivated to grab the three points here as a win on Sunday could see the visitors move top of the Serie A table.
The visitors have suffered just the one defeat so far in this season’s Italian top flight which was an opening day 3-0 loss away at Hellas Verona, but Roma haven’t looked back since as they’ve put together an impressive seven-match unbeaten sequence.
This excellent run of results include winning their last three matches on the trot with victories over Fiorentina 2-0 at home, Genoa 3-1 away and a 3-0 win at home over Parma, while results away from home have also been encouraging.
Despite the loss at Verona, Roma have bounced back with wins at Udinese and the aforementioned Genoa and goals have also featured with three of Roma’s four away matches to date resulting in over 2.5 goals.
This will be an emotional fixture, especially for Napoli, but the players may well want to put on a show in honour of Diego Maradona who played the beautiful game, beautifully.
Diego Maradona 30th October 1960 - 25th November 2020