Napoli fans calm as city holds breath for Scudetto showdown
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NAPLES, Italy : As a thrilling season comes to an end, Napoli fans remain calm and confident as the city prepares for a historic night with the Serie A title hanging in the balance ahead of Friday’s final match.
The season has gone right down to the wire, with Napoli and Inter Milan battling for supremacy. Napoli hold a slender one-point lead heading into Friday's finale at home against Cagliari while Inter play at Como at the same time.
After stumbling to two consecutive draws, the title race may have become too close for comfort for the Campania club, after stumbling to two consecutive draws. But the optimism is still there.
"Last week was nervous because we didn’t get the result. But I am confident we will win this tomorrow," Mario Verde, a cafe owner on the island of Capri told Reuters.
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Now the fans of the football-mad city are preparing for the party. Light blue floods the streets as Napoli shirts drape from balconies and shop-fronts, the city holding its breath ahead of the most thrilling finale in years.
"A win for Napoli is special because it’s a win for the entire south of Italy. The north often looks down on the south. They win most of the titles. So this title would be for the south," Verde added.
The city of Naples is getting ready for the evening, with over 450,000 people having queued for tickets to the final match. Authorities are expecting enormous crowds throughout the city.
Twenty big screens will be set up across Naples as fans gather to witness the club’s potential fourth Scudetto - and their second in just three years, but fans are not taking anything for granted.
"Here in Naples, we don’t talk about victory yet because we are very superstitious, but we usually say one thing: 'It won’t happen, but if it does...'," fellow Napoli fan Giuseppe Coppola said with a smile.
About 660 kilometres to the north, the mood is similarly calm among Inter fans, who also have the Champions League final against Paris St Germain to look forward to at the end of the month.
"I'll just watch — it’s not in our hands. We'll experience it calmly," life-long Inter Milan fan Andrea Comin told Reuters by email, adding he was not worried.
"I believe the team has been focused on the Champions League final for quite some time now," he added when asked if he was concerned that the European title had taken priority over Serie A for Inter.
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