Allegri is superstitious, but Napoli and Inter have already benefited from this particular situation in the past three seasons
“Superstitious? No, I feel negative people immediately…” and a dry dribble to the question. They remind Massimiliano Allegri that Napoli, without cups, also exited the Italian Cup in the round of 16 last year. Always against Lazio. Except then winning the scudetto in May. But Max from Livorno evades the trap: “It’s still a long way off, let’s think about the away match in Turin. Milan only won against us in the year of Covid.” The question about the cabal is avoided for now. Yet it was inviting: also because the law of early elimination, to tell the truth, has held for three seasons.
NAPLES AND INTER
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It all begins with Napoli-Cremonese, January 2023. Spalletti’s Azzurri have been in command in the championship for months, but are surprised in the Italian Cup by the grey-reds who beat Maradona on penalties and earn passage to the quarter-finals. Napoli’s run in the Italian Cup ended before it even began, but four months later the tricolor returned to the city after 33 years of waiting. Same dynamic for the future Italian champions of the following year: Inzaghi’s Inter were sensationally eliminated in extra time by Bologna, after having also taken the lead. At San Siro, that evening in December, Thiago Motta is celebrating. But at the end of the season the Nerazzurri boasted their second star.
again with Lazio
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The scenario repeats itself in December 2024. Same scene of Milan’s elimination: the Biancoceleste Olimpico. Lazio goes against a distracted Napoli: Noslin’s hat-trick puts Conte out of the running in the Italian Cup, but the coach makes up for it by winning the championship. In the last three years, three times the future championship has fallen in the round of 16 of the Italian Cup. The last to go further was Milan, but under Pioli’s management: 2021-22 season, the Rossoneri reached the semi-finals where they paid the price in the double match against Inter.
movie
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Allegri is not superstitious and has always had an excellent relationship with the Italian Cup, if it is true that during his first Juventus experience (from 2014 to 2019) he lifted it four consecutive times, bringing it back to the black and white after twenty years of absence. Not only that: the one won with the Lady in May 2024 (1-0 against Atalanta in the final, a lightning goal by Vlahovic) remains the last trophy lifted by the Bianconeri. But who knows whether even the pragmatic Max, in his heart, didn’t smile imagining that the Serie A film will end like it has in the last three years.
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