Ultras love champion makers
As a farewell, the Naples coach receives a “stolen” steering wheel back
06/08/2023 09:34 am
Luciano Spalletti was persona non grata with the SSC Napoli Ultras last season, and now he’s winning the club’s first championship in 33 years. The coach says goodbye as the hero of the football fanatic city for a break. He gets back parts of his stolen car as a gift.
It is an extremely curious gift for a master coach: after winning the Italian championship with SSC Napoli, Luciano Spalletti receives a car steering wheel and CDs, packed in a large box with sky-blue wrapping paper. This can be seen in a video by sports journalist Salvatore Amoroso on Twitter. Of course, it’s not the official gift for success, he gets the gifts from people masked with balaclavas.
It is also his farewell gift, because the 64-year-old says goodbye to the team after the collective ecstasy in the city. With a 16-point lead, the southern Italian team secured their first championship in 33 years. The football fanatic city, once the home of Diego Armando Maradona, has been wearing the sky blue of the “Azzurri” for weeks. Spalletti is a hero of the city, but now he wants to take a longer break: “I have to sit out a year. I’m a bit tired,” he explained. He also does not want to train a team other than Napoli in the coming season.
All just a big joke
Of course, the strange gifts have a background: In October 2021, Spalletti’s car, a Fiat Panda, was stolen from a hotel garage. The coach was badly criticized at the time, his team had slipped to third place in the last few days of the game. The fans wanted it to be over, saying: “We’ll give you the panda back – the main thing is that you leave.” Now Spalletti says goodbye – but under completely different conditions.
But the presents are a reminiscence of the old, threatening promise. The CDs contain music by the famous Neapolitan singer Pino Daniele, they were in the car at the time, Spalletti is said to be a fan of the singer. However, neither the CDs nor the steering wheel should be originals from the stolen Fiat Panda. Because Amoroso explains that it was a farewell joke.
In his video you can see how Spalletti rips open the package, admires his gifts and then high fives with the masked people. These also unfold a huge banner, including the date of the car theft. But how it goes then describes Amoroso without video evidence: “They pretended to be the thieves and wore balaclavas, which they took off again after the hugs.” The mere fact that someone could believe that the club would allow “criminals with masked faces undisturbed access” is wrong.
And so it remains a loving joke – and for Spalletti a certainly memorable farewell.