AFP: Serie A title fever is sweeping Naples as the football-mad city hopes that rampant Napoli will end more than three decades of waiting to be crowned kings of Italy. Yesterday night’s 2-1 win over Roma and the sudden collapse of defending champions AC Milan’s title defence allowed Napoli to extend their lead at the top to a whopping 13 points.
No team has had such a huge advantage on the chasing pack after 20 games played since Serie A switched to three points for a win in 1994, and the chance of a first Scudetto since the days when Diego Maradona wore Napoli’s blue has filled fans with both anticipation and trepidation.
“At this point only we can lose it now. It’s all in our hands,” one supporter, Mirko Brandini, said. The 18-year-old travelled to Naples from Tuscany with three friends and hung around outside Napoli’s Stadio Maradona to bathe in the euphoria of a thrilling win against one of their fiercest rivals.
Napoli have dropped just seven points all season and yesterday came through a tough test against resilient Roma. The visitors’ forward Stephan El Shaarawy equalised Victor Osimhen’s opener to silence the boisterous home crowd before super-sub Giovanni Simeone grabbed the win with an 86th minute goal.