Napoli gearing up for 2nd chance to win Serie A title

At least one Napoli player is looking forward to the club's pos‐ sible title celebrations on Thurs‐ day in a town far, far from home.

Alex Meret, the team's goal‐ keeper, is from the northeastern Italian city of Udine, where Napoli can secure the title by get‐ ting at least a draw against Udi‐ nese. That chance comes four days after the southern club failed to clinch the Serie A cham‐ pionship in front of its own fans on Sunday after being held to a 1‐ 1 draw by Salernitana at the Sta‐ dio Diego Armando Maradona.

The let down put a damper on celebrations that had already started after second‐place Lazio lost at Inter Milan earlier in the day.

"We're definitely disappointed because we wanted to celebrate at home with the incredible at‐ mosphere created by our fans," Meret said. "But we're already fo‐ cused on the match in Udine. ... My family is there and they will come watch so it'll be a wonder‐ ful feeling."

Napoli is attempting to win the Italian league for the first time since Diego Maradona led the team to its only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990. The team has an 18‐point lead and could even clinch the title a day earlier if Lazio fails to beat Sassuolo.

All that is proving to be some‐ thing of a logistical nightmare for the club and the city.

City officials in Naples, unable to predict when the title celebra‐ tions will start, are considering imposing a traffic ban in the cen‐ ter from Wednesday, before the start of Lazio's match. The city did the same thing on Sunday.

There are also security con‐ cerns regarding the team's flight back to Naples from Udine. More than 10,000 fans greeted the team at the airport after its win at Juventus nine days ago and that would likely be increased expo‐ nentially if Napoli wins the title.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said the team could land early Friday morning or in the afternoon. The team could also be rerouted to a different airport.

Plans are also being put in place to show the match on giant screens at the stadium in Naples.

"We are having eight giant screens installed to put two in front of each stand to allow Neapolitans to watch the match like that," De Laurentiis said. "There are organizational prob‐ lems and we don't have much time so we're asking for a sym‐ bolic price of 5 euros ($5.50) and if there's money left it will be given to charity.

"Moreover, the celebrations that we had prepared will hap‐ pen on Sunday at the home match against Fiorentina."