Hello, hello and welcome back to Naples. We have reached the halfway stage of the our season with Napoli with Diego back steering the wheel for us. We are in the top 6 currently and looking for a spot in Europe next season. Let’s see if we can do that here.

I had Meier when I did my 1860 Munich saved which crashed earlier in the year (Still not over it) and he had a tendency to get sent off for stupid challenges and there is no change here. It’s a cagey opening 20 minutes before Meier hauls down Pane in the box who gets up and converts the penalty. We can’t cope being a man down and Bianconi seals the 3 points for Empoli.

1-0 doesn’t do us justice here but i will take all 3 points gladly. We batter them in the 1st half mainly thanks to some magic Maradona passing carving them open but we just can’t convert. It’s the same in the second half and it’s look to be a frustrating draw until Bellucci capitalises on a loose back pass and rolls the ball into an empty net. A deserved 3 points here.

We get our usual pasting off run away leaders Juventus. We are absolutely nowhere near there level yet. Maradona must have been on the sauce the night before as he is non existent in this game.

This is a great result for us as Parma battered us at the start of the season. It’s a slow burner until the 75th minute when Bellucci creates some space and beats a committed Buffon to put us 1 up. Henry then races up the other and equalises from kickoff. I’m happy with the draw until Maradona gets into a pocket of space and flicks a pass over the top for Bellucci to volley home the winner. Happy days.

Oooo we massively get away with one here! The first half is the most boring I’ve ever seen. The second half takes a while to get going until Baldini is pushed in the box at a corner and Maradona tucks home the penalty. It then becomes end to end and Roma score 5 minutes later thanks to a deft finish from Balbo. In the 83rd minute after an almighty scramble Totti scores only for it to be ruled out. In the 88th minute Maradona makes a dazzling run and and megs the keeper to give us a thoroughly undeserved win.

Another great performance from us at home here. Bellucci is quickly starting to eclipse Maradona in this team. He opens the scoring with a powerful strike after just 13 minutes. Just before half time Blomberg clears a ball and Pagliuca completely miss judges the flight of it and tips into his own net. In the second half Djorkaeff scores a beauty from range but Bellucci gets played through Imbriani to score his second and our 3rd to make it a comfortable 3-0 win.

What a performance away from home. We crush Udinese here. It starts off badly as Imbriani gets stretchered off. Maradona drops into attacking midfield and Esposito goes up front and my goodness he takes his chance. 2 goals in the first half as well an assist for Beto. Maradona then sets them both up in the in the second half for a big 5-0 win.

Another good win and a great performance from Diego. Bellucci gives us the lead with a great header from a Maradona cross. Just before half time though Baggio uses his wiley skills to level the game. In the second half we step up a gear and goals from Esposito and Longo gives us a 3-1 win.

That’s it for this update. Before we go let’s check on the league table.

We are up to 4th which is a brilliant effort at this stage. 3rd looks achievable but i think the top 2 might be out of our reach. I hope you can join me next time, in the new year, to see just how high we can finish and if Diego can find some form again.

Thank you so much to Dave for letting me blog this year on his site and also to all the readers and all the other amazing bloggers. See you all in 2021.