Napoli Crisis: Politano Shakes Up the Locker Room: “Even the non-Italians Need to Step Up”

Napoli is sinking: after a crushing defeat to Juventus in the league, they’ve suffered another blow in the Champions League against Porto. The situation is tense; Massimiliano Allegri’s job is on the line, and the locker room is on the verge of falling apart.

Matteo Politano had harsh words following the 4-1 loss in Portugal: “Everything went wrong; words are just words—we need to back them up with actions on the field, and we’ve done very little of that. Now we need to keep quiet, apologize to our fans, and focus on Sunday.”

Then came a dig at some of his teammates on Sky: “Do I always have to be the one to take the heat? I’d like to see some other teammates step up every now and then to offer explanations—not always us Italians—but that’s fine, and I’ll take the heat just as we always have.”

“We have to understand that losing 2-1 is one thing and conceding four goals is another—we need to take a hard look at ourselves. I’m pretty pissed off; I’m disappointed, and I apologize to the fans. We conceded a goal off a corner kick where the striker was left unmarked three times—he scored twice and hit the crossbar once; a physical team like ours shouldn’t let that happen.”

The match in Porto got off to a rough start: Allegri had opted for a 3-5-2 formation with Hojlund as the lone striker and De Bruyne behind him, but Porto—last in the standings with zero points before the match—immediately took control of the game. After a goal by Pepe was disallowed, the hosts took the lead in the 11th minute when Bednarek headed in a corner kick taken by Veiga. Napoli picked up the pace after the half-hour mark and equalized in the 43rd minute through McTominay, who was quick to pounce on Diogo Costa’s save off Politano’s shot and slot it into the net.

The second half was played almost entirely at one end of the field: Porto hit the crossbar twice with shots from Bednarek and Gabri Veiga, and in the 71st minute, they took the lead through Veiga, set up by Gimenez. Allegri tried to shake things up by bringing in Giovane and Lang for an ultra-offensive lineup, but in the 81st minute, Kiwior sealed the deal with a header, again off a corner kick. In the closing minutes, after Marin was sent off, Samu converted the penalty kick to make the final score 4-1.