Gennaro Gattuso, the manger of Italian Serie A side Napoli said his side was lucky to have won a star-studded Juventus side to clinch the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night. The last night win has brought the number of time the club won the title to six.
Gattuso took up a managerial job with a struggling Napoli late last year to attempt to salvage the bad state of the club. He was able to help them to the 6th spot on the league table and also helped them to the final of the Coppa Italia.
Though Juventus have not been convincing in recent time, critics of Napoli gave Gattuso and his boys no chance of winning a Cristiano Ronaldo led Juventus side in a final of an important title like the Coppa Italia. All the odds were in favour of Juventus and yet, the 6th placed club on the Italian Serie A league table was able to win the table toppers.
Napoli was able to hold their own throughout the regular 90 minutes of play. They dragged the match to penalties shootout and buried the shootout before Ronaldo could even have the opportunity to take his chance. The match ended 2-4 on penalties to stop Maurizio Sarri‘s dream of winning a treble this season.
In his reaction after the match, the manager of Napoli didn’t only thank luck for the victory, he said the “God of soccer” decided to award them with the Coppa Italia title. However, the victory didn’t allow him to forget the shock he suffered after losing his sister, Francesca, who died of cancer earlier in June.
He said: “We are lucky. This is why I get angry; there must be passion, respect, seriousness. Then there is a God of football who rewards you when you work well.
“The world of football has given me more than I deserved. “But you always think of your family first. In life, when what has happened happens to you, you don’t digest it.”
Now that the Coppa Italia saga is over, Gennaro Gattuso and his boys will have to direct their attention to the Italian Serie A which commences this weekend.
Napoli has 12 matches to play and they are 9 points away from the top four. Hence, the players will push to win as many games as possible in order to displace 4th-placed Atalanta or go further up on the table.
“We have a duty to play these last 12 games with respect,” Gattuso added. “We must not think about giving up.”
The boys of Gennaro Gattuso are yet to move on
Meanwhile, as the manager of Napoli is already thinking of the Serie A, some of his players are still basking in the victory they earned on Wednesday. One of such is Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly.
Koulibaly took to Twitter after the match and posted pictures of their celebration and he wrote in Italian that: “The finals are played to be won. Lots of excitement: I’m happy. Napoli deserved a great win like this.”
🏆 Les finales se jouent pour être gagnées. Beaucoup d’excitation: je suis heureux. #Napoli méritait une belle victoire comme celle-ci 🇮🇹
— Koulibaly Kalidou (@kkoulibaly26) June 17, 2020
#CoppaItalia #NapoliJuve 💙 #KK #ForzaNapoliSempre ⚽️ #blacklivesmatter 🏆 pic.twitter.com/guW1OKsUjB
Also, his Algerian teammate, Faouzi Ghoulam was not left out in the celebration as he also took to Twitter and shared a picture of the celebration. He also captioned the picture in Italian saying: “It is such an immense joy. For us and for the fantastic Neapolitan people.”
È una gioia immensa. Per noi e per il fantastico popolo napoletano 🏆
— ghoulam faouzi (@GhoulamFaouzi) June 17, 2020
C’est une joie immense. Pour nous et pour le merveilleux peuple napolitain 🇮🇹
It is such an immense joy. For us and for the fantastic Neapolitan people 💙#CoppaItalia #NapoliJuve 🇮🇹 #FG31 🇩🇿 pic.twitter.com/bLA7X2GAwv
