‘Napoli hurricane’ – How Italy reacted to Serie A leaders’ stunning demolition of Juventus

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis declared himself ‘ecstatic’ after watching his side dismantle Juventus on Friday night.

It was a huge moment. Not only did Napoli humiliate their greatest rivals, but they took down their closest challengers in the Serie A title race to go 10 points clear on top of the table.

Juventus came into the game on the back of an eight-match winning run in which they hadn’t conceded a single goal, but they were outclassed in Naples.

Could this be their year? Napoli have never won the Scudetto without the help of the creative wizard from Argentina who their stadium is named after.

But belief that they could add a third title to the famous two of 1986/87 and 1989/90 is growing week by week, especially after the heroics of Friday evening.

‘Stellar Napoli’ – what the papers said

Corriere dello Sport’s headline read “Stellar Napoli” and the newspaper praised an “impressive show of force from the leaders” as they “demolished” their rivals.

Gazzetta dello Sport described a “Napoli hurricane” and said Victor Osimhen and Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia “tore the Bianconeri defence apart”, calling the result a “Scudetto breakaway”.

Turin-based Tuttosport took a Juve perspective, calling it “another disgrace”. They praised a “Spalletti masterpiece” but criticised the visitors for “giving up without a fight in the second half”.

La Repubblica also described a “stellar Napoli”, while Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino splashed the headline: “Crushed!”

‘This is for Naples’ – what the teams said

Napoli president De Laurentiis tweeted: “Ecstatic about this fantastic team! It will be impossible to forget this evening!”

Osimhen posted: “Great night, great atmosphere. We push on!”

Kvaratskhelia described it as “a magic night”, while Giovanni Di Lorenzo said “what a night, what a Napoli, what a stadium” and Piotr Zielinski dedicated the victory to the fans.

Matteo Politano took to Instagram for his reaction. He wrote: “Usually they ask who you dedicate the victory to. Tonight that’s easy. This enormous satisfaction is for you, for those who were at the stadium and for those who supported us from all over the world. This win is for all Neapolitans. This victory is for Naples.”

‘Deserved defeat’ – what the coaches said

Spalletti: “Tonight I’ll celebrate with my children, who came from Milan to watch the game. The only message we’ve sent is to ourselves. There’s always a doubt about not being at this level, and everyone has suffered a bit against Juventus. What we absolutely had to avoid was being hesitant, instead we played with our heads up, went looking for the win and got it.”

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri: “These nights can happen, the defeat is deserved. We had little energy but we were coming off eight wins and now we need to get to work and get back on track next week in the Coppa Italia. They deserve first place, but on nights like this there’s little you can do.”

‘No contest’ – How the former pros reacted

Christian Vieri to Bobo TV: “There was no contest, Napoli are in another category. They play the game the right way and showed that tonight. The whole world is watching and talking about Napoli. They are super, I wasn’t expecting a 5-1 win but they play so well that they can score 3, 4, 5 goals against anyone because they create so much.”

Former Juventus player Zbigniew Boniek on Twitter: “Juve won eight games in a row, why? Because they didn’t play a team like Napoli and were very lucky.”