How Napoli scripted a triumph in Serie A, 33 years after it last won under Diego Maradona

When Napoli won the second of the last Serie A titles in 1990, under the leadership of the talismanic Diego Maradona, the World Cup which was hosted by Italy that year, saw Germany compete and win as West Germany. The world record transfer fee paid for Roberto Baggio to move from Fiorentina to Juventus was still ‘only’ 8 million pounds. Hotmail was still six years away.To put it in short, it’s been a long time. 33 years.And on Thursday, May 4, it happened again. For the first time in 33 years, the working class Southern Italian city of Naples, so often the target of taunts by its more affluent northern compatriots, had reason to smile, dance and weep with joy.The 1-1 draw with Udinese saw the Band of Blue Brothers, coached, and managed magnificently by the blue-collar work ethics of Luciano Spalletti, lift the Scudetto.Napoli had been rocked by financial mismanagement leading to bankruptcy and relegation in the mid-2000s. However, since the last decade, they have been regularly starting to feature in the top five of the Serie A table. In this podcast, senior assistant editor Saumyajit Basu and associate sports editor Nitin Naik chart the club’s progress in the last decade, discuss where the turnaround began and why and delve into the complex politics of Italy and why there has been this extreme divide between the north and south of the country.Saumyajit also discusses the legacy of the great Diego Maradona and how he stoked the pride of the Neapolitans, by saying “Naples is not Italy” prior to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup vs Italy in Naples.The podcast also discusses the role of Spalletti and how he put the egos of some star players in their place, the Moneyball attitude of the management and whether the club will be able to fight off the moneybag owners who will come hunting for their key players like Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.Audio production: Shantanu Nanoti