Ideas, study, passion: the two coaches – who have never met in a direct clash – will be the key to the match
It is almost incredible that in their long and successful careers, they have never faced each other in a direct clash. Because they filled their sporting lives in a crazy swing. Adding, to the many Serie A benches, experiences abroad, stints in the national team, years of reflection, to unplug, regenerate and start again. This is why for the first time, at Maradona, Conte and Spalletti will face each other, in a face-to-face unprecedented in the championship. Two parallel experiences, which – in that very original theater that football can be – paradoxically have never crossed paths. The paths of two coaches, certainly accustomed to always looking forward, but – and it is rare for this to happen to both protagonists – they will not be able to help but think back to their happy past. Because Conte won a lot with “his” Juve, scoring three championships in a row, before choosing other destinations and scoring other triumphs; Spalletti brought back to Naples – defeating the competition and making a solitary run for eight months – a tricolor that had been missing since the days of Maradona. In short, two that you really wouldn’t be wrong to define as great, very great, ex. Certain slogans, sometimes, really have a basis in truth.