Napoli fans’ scudetto fever adds to pressure on Sarri’s thin squad | Paolo Bandini

The spellbinding Serie A leaders are starting to believe in a first title since Diego Maradona but they must hold their nerve

Serie A’s winter break arrived later than usual this season. The Italian top flight is set to resume on Sunday after a one-weekend pause, having played through Christmas and New Year. If it were up to the Napoli manager, Maurizio Sarri, they would not have stopped at all.

“I would prefer to keep going,” he confessed after watching his team beat Verona at the start of this month. And, really, who could blame him? A point clear of Juventus in first place, the Partenopei had been crowned one week earlier as Italy’s campione d’inverno – winter champions – an unofficial title granted to the team that leads the way at the season’s midway stage.

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