[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The final train for the Champions League leaves from Naples. One golden ticket remains and it will be stamped at the Stadio San Paolo. More than 50,000 fans are expected to descend on Fuorigrotta to find out whether it will be Napoli or Lazio walking out to the tune of Handel's "Zadok the Priest" as adapted by UEFA next season.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]It's one playoff for another. Neither can qualify automatically. They are competing to see whose summer vacation will be shorter. They are competing for the chance to earn close to €40 million, and although both approach the game with the same objective, they do so under different pressures.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]For Rafa Benitez, it could define his tenure at Napoli. On Thursday, he made public a decision many felt he had made as long ago as the autumn. Benitez will leave when his contract expires in June. Sunday's game will be his final one as coach of Napoli. No one had an issue with his reasoning. Everyone understood how hard it has been for Benitez to be apart from his family who have stayed in England since his appointment two years ago. Instead, debate centred on whether he has been a success.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Appearing beside him, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis obviously felt Benitez's record needed defending. He reminded journalists that part of the brief when he hired the 55-year-old was to raise the club's profile on the international stage. Benitez has attracted players to Napoli that his predecessor couldn't. He has guided the club from 46th to 20th in UEFA's club rankings ahead of the likes of Tottenham, Ajax, Liverpool and both Milan clubs. Rated as high as seventh by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, someone should maybe tell De Laurentiis that, while commendable, it isn't taken very seriously as an organisation.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Napoli have done this, he said, even though they make a third of what the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Juventus do and with a payroll that is only the fourth highest in Serie A. Throughout Benitez's time at the club, De Laurentiis argued, Napoli were the only club other than Juventus to win any domestic silverware.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Of course, counterpoints to these aren't lacking. After all, Napoli's rise up the rankings started before Benitez. They've been in Europe for five straight years. They also make considerably more than Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, who surprisingly knocked them out of the Europa League at the semifinal stage. They boast higher revenues than Sevilla, too, who retained the trophy. At €30 million, Gonzalo Higuain cost more than any signing Juventus have made in the Agnelli-Marotta years. Higuain is also the second highest paid player in the league, earning a million more in base salary after tax than Carlos Tevez, whom the Old Lady bought for €9 million.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Then there's the wage bill. Although smaller than Juventus', Roma's and Milan's, it has climbed by €20 million. While there has been bang for their buck from the players in attack -- Juventus have only scored five more goals than Napoli in the last two years -- consider the defence, which has conceded 44 more. Perennially injured Juan Camilo Zuniga (€3.2 million) takes home more than every Juventus defender other than Giorgio Chiellini while Raul Albiol makes more than Leonardo Bonucci. For the first time under De Laurentiis, Napoli posted a loss as well.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Things haven't gone badly but they could have gone better. Financially speaking, Benitez, one could argue, is leaving them in a worse place than he found them, particularly if they miss out on the Champions League again.[/font][/size][/font][/size]
[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Remember he inherited a team that had finished runners-up. True, Napoli lost their best player that summer in Edinson Cavani, but the club reinvested the €63 million Paris Saint-Germain coughed up for him and the money banked from automatic Champions League qualification. A top individual was sold to make the collective much better.[/font][/size]
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[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]It's worth recalling the hype around Napoli that summer. It was immense. De Laurentiis encouraged the impression Napoli had upgraded on previous manager Walter Mazzarri. Many shared it. His successor had won everything. The club was primed to make a tilt at the Scudetto. That was the sales pitch made to Higuain anyway. Now you can emulate Maradona.[/font][/size]
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[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]After a great start, though, things got away from them. A new coach, several new players -- nearly all of whom were new to Italy -- a new style and new system were held up as mitigating factors. Napoli finished down a place in third, but with a record points total, and won a second Coppa Italia in three years to par the course. Bigger and better things were expected of the second year when the signings had settled, adapted to Serie A and absorbed Benitez's methods. Conte's resignation from Juventus was also another reason to be hopeful. De Laurentiis talked about winning the Scudetto. On Thursday, he acknowledged it had been a mistake.[/font][/size]
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[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Coming in third was a problem. It meant Napoli couldn't guarantee Champions League football. Unwilling to spend before a place in the group stages was sealed, they missed transfer targets, left a squad tired from the World Cup undermanned, lost to Athletic in the playoffs and had to settle for third- or fourth-choice targets. The team was weaker. One imagines this disillusioned Benitez. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina's deal wasn't made permanent. World Cup finalist Federico Fernandez was sold to Swansea and replaced by the raw Kalidou Koulibaly, while Valon Behrami took his unsophisticated but creditable midfield hustle to Hamburg. Other players had their heads turned, notably Jose Callejon. The depression of not qualifying for the Champions League compounded the misery Higuain felt after losing the World Cup final and sapped all enthusiasm from the fan base.[/font][/size]
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[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Although Napoli promised to recover, particularly after winning the Super Cup in December, they never definitively did. The team has underperformed and gone backwards. Once again, Benitez's rotation and team selections have been criticised. There has been no progress in mentality. Napoli are a Jekyll-and-Hyde team, beating the best then inexplicably losing to the likes of Chievo, Udinese, the worst Milan in years, Verona and Empoli and drawing with the likes of Atalanta, Cagliari and relegated Parma. Their back line is 12th in the league; their away record only eighth.[/font][/size]
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[font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=medium][font=BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If you're only as good as your last job, it's a mystery how Benitez is the favourite to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid. He has achieved nothing Mazzarri didn't. Perhaps Florentino Perez should give him a call, too.[/font][/size][/font]
