Napoli-Milan, the 4-0 also overturns the Champions League match

It was a game that overturned everything: the forecast, the values ​​expressed so far in the season, the twenty-three points gap in the standings with which the teams showed up on the pitch. All erased from the most amazing ninety minutes of the season. We had clear ideas: Naples uncontainable, if not unbeatable, certainly beautiful and overwhelming; Milan in trouble, discontinuous like anyone there behind the blues. Now we are much more confused, because this 4-0 shuffles the cards as we never imagined. And it changes the balance also, if not above all, in view of the double challenge of the Champions League.

The turnaround

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It was widely believed that Napoli was the favourites, indeed the very favorites in comparison with Milan who are worth the semi-final of the Cup. Now that’s not the case anymore: certainties crack, superlatives suddenly appear excessive, exaggerated. But can one game, just one, change in such a profound way the assessments gained over months and months of victories and defeats, spells and mistakes? Yes, it can, because a meeting like this – such a thunderous 4-0 – also changes the minds, beliefs and feelings of the protagonists. Napoli felt strong, and they certainly were; Milan was full of doubts and weaknesses. Today everything is different.

self-esteem

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Let’s just call it that, self-esteem. Sometimes it has a decisive impact on a performance. The 4-0 defeat undermines that of Napoli, affects it, yet it seemed very solid; at the same time he gives it back to Milan, who gave the feeling of believing in themselves much less than last season and now find confidence, courage, optimism again. Then there are the technical values, and obviously they weigh a lot, indeed they often decide. And these are certainly on the side of the Azzurri, as the championship standings say, and net of the injury of the phenomenal Osimhen. But if there was a way to give a shoulder to the solidity of Napoli in view of the Champions League, Milan has found it.