Napoli feels the heat in the Serie A title race while they are preparing to organize AC Milan on Sunday, after they have lost the land since the January sale of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The side of Antonio Conte went during the international break after he won only one of their last seven league games and slid three points under Inter.
Conte has repeatedly pronounced his frustration about Kvaratskhelia's large money movement to Paris Saint-Germain, where the wing player in Georgia quickly nailed a starting point.
Without the Snel Wideman, Napoli has lost the top spot to Inter, who are clear three points with nine rounds.
Napoli missed creativity when they went with Venezia with Venezia in their most recent league outing, their fifth draw since Kvaratskhelia was sold.
On Sunday, Napoli is confronted with another ready-made side in Milan, whose head coach, Sergio Conukicao, is under heavy pressure only three months after the reins.
Conuicao's Side Sit Ninth in the Table, six points behind Bologna, who are currently taking the fourth and final Champions League place.
The bright spot for the Portuguese manager is that he again has a full team to choose the trip to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where they are unbeaten in their last six visits in all games (three victories, three draws).
But Napoli (61) has 14 points more than Milan (47) this season. Only three times in the previous 153 Serie A matches of the teams, Napoli were introduced the match with a larger point advantage (15 in February 2014, 25 in April 2018 and 23 in April 2023).
In the meantime, Inter can strengthen their position on top of Serie A when they organize Udinese earlier on Sunday. After having spent a large part of 2024-25 having to chase Napoli, they have built a three-point buffer on their closest rivals, after they have won an impressive 2-0 win over Atalanta previous time-out.
Udinese should be a manageable challenge, in which Inter has four straight league profits about them, but the Nerazzurri may miss their usual attacking firepower because Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram are probably put aside due to injuries.
With important defenders Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij, Simone Inzaghi will be left behind at the depth of the Nerazzurri.
In the meantime, Juventus starts their new era under Igor Tudor with a home game against Genoa on Saturday.
The Turin Giants fired Thiago Motta after ending a difficult season, with their place in the Champions League of next season threatened while they are fifth in the table.
It was often a case of possession without a goal under Motta, and Tudor's first task will be to inject some positivity into Juve's game.
Despite the fact that Juventus registered 113 construction attacks, 18 more than any other team in the Serie A this season, they have only scored three goals from such actions, ranked behind five other teams.
There may also be change in Atalanta, with Gian Piero Gasperini who says that he will not sign an extension of his current deal, which runs until June 2026.
Speculation has even suggested that he could leave at the end of this campaign, with Juventus and Roma as potential voorders.
La Dea remains outsiders in the Scudetto race and is third with 58 points, but much of the media attention is aimed at the future of their head coach.
“There is always a start and an end. What is in between is the journey, which is often the most beautiful part,” Gasperini said recently, adding that he was aimed at ending the current campaign – his nineth in Bergamo – in a high tone.
He brought Champions League qualification in six of his eight seasons at the helm and delivered a Europa League title last May.
“Am I looking for a house in Rome or Turin? For now my house is in Bergamo. The present is what is important, and there are still nine league games to play,” he said.
Atalanta visits Fiorentina, which is also in the mix on Sunday for Champions League qualification.
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