There is little Naples at this stage of the championship. Perhaps the belief that nothing can be done against the dominance of Juventus is prevailing in the environment. The postponement with Sassuolo has taken prestige to second place: there is little or nothing to be proud of if the distance to the leaders has increased to 18 points. Too many, let's face it, for a match team, at the beginning of the season, with the clear intention of wanting to make life hard for the multi-champions of Italy. But this was not the case, the gap became unbridgeable after just a few days of the championship, to the point of advising Carlo Ancelotti to focus all his efforts on the Europa League, the only goal still available, after the elimination from the Italian Cup.

WITHOUT VICTORIES - Thus, the statistics bring Naples back to earth, after months spent with the illusion that nothing would have prevented the environment from believing in the comeback. They remind him that in the last five league games, he won only one win, against Parma, a defeat (Juventus) and three draws (Fiorentina, Torino and Sassuolo). Results that have created apprehension, because by scrolling through the rankings, the figure that stands out the most is Milan's minus 6 from second place, and at this time more than ever launched and above all motivated by the imminence of the derby. Therefore, Naples can no longer win. At least in the league, because then in the Europa League he got rid of Zurich in the round of 32 and is a step away from the quarterfinals, strong from the 3-0 draw at Salzburg in the first leg. And on Thursday, there will be a return to Austria.