The Cup – Atalanta and Napoli reached the final. Given the poor season Atalanta had, the odds were heavily in Napoli’s favour, but it would have been great the underdog to win. Unfortunately, Napoli was unstoppable this year and Atalanta lost both legs of the final – 0-3 and 0-1.
Napoli and Maradona took the Cup, all smiles of course.
No luck… Atalanta was the poorer finalist. What a bitter disappointment – losing the Cup and relegated to the Second Division. Objectively: they had no argument – Napoli in top form, led by Maradona. Too tough for miracles.
Napoli won its 3rd Cup, which was great. They practically sealed the victory in the first leg at home, but ended in style by winning the second leg in Bergamo and receiving the Cup as true winners.
What a season – not only one trophy, but two! First title and first double – nothing speaks better for a team on its peak. Maradona is one thing, but one can argue that this season really put Napoli on the map: players like Ferrara, De Napoli, Bagni and even well established Carnevale and Giordano were elevated from relative obscurity to true stardom. It was no longer a club having Maradona for a show, but a winning club. It was also important for Maradona too – the doubts that he was not a winner finally perished. The great success perhaps made Napoli’s administration more serious about the team – it was still quite short. Depending on Maradona was not enough – especially in Italy was not enough – so strong additions were a must. That plus trying to keep the strong current players in the tam, for the Northern big clubs always had more money to buy whoever they wished and now Napoli had a few guys wetting the Northern appetites. There was a lot of work to be done… but for the moment it was fantastic.
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