Looking back, this was a disappointing campaign for Napoli in the Italian Serie A.
They were off to a false start right from the word go as they were ousted by Athletic Bilbao from the Champions League qualifier in summer. That was the blow from which Rafa Benitez’s team never really recovered from.
In the Europa League, Napoli beat Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals only to be eliminated by unfancied Ukrainians Dnipro in the last four of a competition that rewards the winners with a place in next season’s Champions League.
Before their shock exit, Napoli were seen as favourites to claim their first Europa League title since 1989.
In Serie A, Napoli were never in contention for the scudetto even though a top-three finish seemed well within their reach, at least by the end of the first round.
However, Napoli’s inconsistency took its toll, particularly in the second part of the league season. There was even a time when the Partenopei slipped down to fifth in the standings.
Saturday’s 1-3 reverse to champions Juventus seemed to have dented Napoli’s already-slim hopes of a late challenge for the third spot. But, quite unexpectedly, Lazio were unable to avoid defeat to Roma on Monday for Napoli to get a second chance.
As things stand now, Napoli can still have the final say in the race for the last-remaining Champions League spot as this weekend they host Lazio in a make-or-break encounter at the San Paolo stadium.
A win will enable Benitez’s team to finish level with Lazio on 66 points. However, Napoli enjoy a better head-to-head record, having beaten the capital team 1-0 (Higuain) at the Olimpico back in January.
These are not good times for Lazio after losing the Coppa Italia final to Juventus and the derby in less than a week.
But not all is lost as Lazio, who slipped four points behind runners-up Roma, only need a point from the do-or-die clash with Napoli to make it to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.
Napoli would commit a serious mistake if they were to underestimate their opponents in their next match.
Only a month ago, the Biancocelesti left it late to silence the San Paolo crowd and reach their Coppa Italia final following a Senad Lulic winning goal.
Even then, Benitez’s side were marked as favourites to reach a second successive Italian Cup final, having drawn 1-1 in the first- leg in Rome.
Hot-shot Toni
Aside from the race for third place, Saturday’s Verona-Juventus clash will probably determine who will finish top scorer this season.
Currently, the evergreen Luca Toni is leading the charts with 21 goals (in 37 appearances), one better off than Carlos Tevez (Juventus) and Mauro Icardi (Inter).
If Toni, who celebrated his 38th birthday yesterday, were to get the accolade he would become the first Verona player to do so and also the oldest ever ‘goal king’ in the Italian top flight.
Toni was top scorer after hitting 31 goals for Fiorentina in 2006.
That tally still represents the highest number of goals in a Serie A season since Inter’s Antonio Valentin Angelillo’s 33-goal haul in season 1958/59.
In 2008, Toni was also the top marksman in the Bundesliga with 24 goals for Bavaria greats Bayern Munich.
In my opinion, veteran Toni has already proved he is a true winner considering that he scored 41 goals in two seasons at a modest club like Verona.
Ironically, a few years back many critics had written off his chances of top level football when he was off-loaded by Juventus to Al Nasr Dubai in UAE.