Not long ago, before Naples' away game against Inter Milan, the country's authoritative national television station specially arranged for an interview team to go to Italy and conduct filming and interviews in Naples for a special report.
The three-episode report, broadcast on the national television sports channel, is dedicated to Gao Shen in Naples.
The program team traveled through the streets and alleys of Naples, and they found that football seemed to have been immersed in the streets and alleys of the city and became a part of the city.
“Dirty, messy and poor, this is the first reaction of all tourists who come to Naples.”
"However, our market area in Naples is considered the most authentic Neapolitan neighborhood, and we can find that football is everywhere here."
"The rolling shutters of the shops facing the street are spray-painted with various graffiti of Maradona, Naples and Gao Shen. Sky blue is the brightest color in the city; we can see all kinds of graffiti on the dazzling array of signboards.
Football culture, statues of football king Maradona and Gao Shen also appear frequently."
"There are also Naples stars. Naples residents will make them into all kinds of cute little objects. At the same time, Naples fans will also actively use their imagination to toss their opponents into various
Something like toilet paper with a team’s logo on it.”
National TV reporters interviewed many fans, and they found that the team Naples fans used to hate the most was Juventus, because the two teams became bitter rivals in Serie B, but now, Inter Milan has replaced them.
"Because they once defeated us three to zero in the Italian Cup!" a street interviewer said to the camera.
"Gao, our head coach, said that he will always remember this game, and we, like him, will not forget it."
As a result, all kinds of small items that made fun of Inter Milan became best-sellers. Some people even printed the face of Inter Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had a big mouth and said a lot of things that offended Naples, on toilet paper.
Street culture like this has always been a part of the city of Naples. It is a business card of this unique southern Italian team. Many people even come to Naples to visit the market area and experience the most authentic experience.
Original Naples style.
In 1990, Maradona led Napoli to win their second Serie A championship.
At that time, the residents of Naples decided to collectively raise funds to draw a graffiti for Maradona. The author was Mario Filardi, a painter living in the Spanish Quarter of Naples.
During the painting process, countless fans came over to volunteer to help.
After the graffiti was completed, it became the most famous graffiti wall in the Naples market area. Almost all fans who come to Naples make a "pilgrimage" here.
But as time passed, this graffiti wall slowly lost its color.
For example, when the graffiti was drawn, Maradona's face happened to be painted on the window of a second-floor resident, so whenever the family opened the window, Maradona's face was not visible in the graffiti.
Many residents of Naples have long been dissatisfied with this and believe that Maradona should be commemorated in a new and permanent way, because the football champion not only belongs to Argentina, but also to Naples!
As early as last season, after Naples won the Serie A double crown, many residents petitioned the city government and proposed to re-create a graffiti wall for Gao Shen and Maradona, which was right next door to the original Maradona graffiti wall.
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The city government also agreed to this move, but later, a Naples street artist proposed a more ambitious project, which was to use the entire side of the building as a drawing board to paint two huge graffiti in the core coastal area of Naples.
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The graffiti are all huge portraits, with Maradona on one side and Gao Shen on the other.
At the same time, the city government also responded to the fans' call and erected one-to-one statues of Gao Shen and Maradona at the northwest and southeast entrances of the Sao Paulo Stadium in Naples.
Among them, Maradona's image is that of a player, while Gao Shen is wearing a suit and standing on the sidelines directing the game.
On every match day, all Naples fans enter the Sao Paulo Stadium from the northwest and southeast entrances. In order to erect a statue, the city government specially transformed the area into a street greening similar to the Triangle District.
As a result, all fans must pass by one of the two statues in the north and south when entering the St. Paul Stadium.
The huge paintings by street artists were sponsored by local businesses in Naples. They were spontaneous acts among the people and were widely supported by Naples fans. The statue at the San Paolo Stadium was officially established by the city government and the Naples club.
The time for the unveiling was chosen just before Christmas.
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As usual in previous years, Gao Shen took the Naples players and divided them into several groups before the holidays. They went to hospitals, nursing homes, kindergartens and other places in Naples to go deep into the local communities and participate in some charity and community activities.
For European teams, this is a must because local fans contribute the vast majority of ticket revenue.
This is also a kind of feedback to local fans.
The whole activity lasted for one morning, and each group traveled to many different places and participated in various activities.
At noon, the entire team returned to the Sao Paulo Stadium on time to participate in the unveiling ceremony of the statue co-organized by the city government and Naples. Even Maradona, the newly appointed head coach of the Argentine national team, flew to the scene to attend.
First, he attended the unveiling of Maradona's statue, and many media reporters from Italy and abroad gathered at the scene. Maradona first expressed his gratitude to the Naples city government and the club, and also said that he has always been a fan of Naples.
Unswerving determination.
"I am very happy to see the team that I love and have fought for, under the leadership of a passionate and very successful coach, become a symbol of Italian and even European football.
The best team in the world.”
"I'm so proud of this Napoli team!"
Maradona said that after becoming a head coach, he realized that being a head coach is not an easy task.
"Many people, including Valdano and Menotti, told me that Gao is the most thoughtful head coach in world football at the moment, so this time I came to Naples, I just want to learn from this team.
I learned something from their head coach."
Maradona often showed himself to be unruly, but in private, especially in Naples, he showed a humble side.
When the ceremony moved to the southeast entrance of the stadium, Gao Shen personally unveiled the red cloth and unveiled his statue. He was very excited. All the fans, players and media present gave him the warmest applause.
At the age of 28, with less than three years of coaching, he was able to have Naples erect a statue in his honor. This is definitely an incredible achievement.
Gao Shen responded to Maradona's humility just now, saying that he was proud to be alongside a legend like Maradona. He said that Maradona is the eternal god in his heart and no one can replace him.
Regarding Naples, Gao Shen expressed that he was very grateful for this experience in Naples.
"This was a crucial experience in my growth and coaching journey. It made me understand a lot of truths and learn a lot of things. It will benefit me throughout my life."
Regarding the team's next goals, Gao Shen said there is nothing much to say.
In Serie A, Napoli is the leader in the standings and has only one goal, which is to win the championship.
Gao Shen said that under the current overall situation of Serie A, he firmly believes that as long as Napoli continues its excellent performance in the first half in the second half, he is very confident that he can lead the team to win the championship.
There is also the Coppa Italia. Naples has reached the quarterfinals. Gao Shen believes that the team's good rotation mechanism can ensure that Naples remains highly competitive when fighting on multiple fronts. This is the prerequisite for the team to win the Coppa Italia championship.
Finally, it’s time for the Champions League.
"Many people felt very depressed when they were drawn against Chelsea, and even felt pessimistic about it."
When Gao Shen said this, his eyes swept over the fans and his own players. He said what many people were thinking.
Although, many of them don't say it.
“But what I want to say is, it’s not necessary!”
Gao Shen stood in front of the microphone, facing the mayor and city councilors of Naples, as well as other political and business celebrities, without any stage fright.
"I want to say that Naples is a unique city, and Naples football is also unique. From the past to the present and to the future, we have always been fighting, counterattacking, and struggling.
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"When we were still in Serie B, we dared to challenge Serie A teams and even giant teams. Although we also suffered a disastrous defeat after achieving results, this experience is valuable to us.
of wealth.”
"When we were promoted to Serie A as a newly promoted team from Serie B, everyone felt that our goal was to avoid relegation, but only we knew that avoiding relegation was never our goal. Our goal was to win the championship!"
“At one time, countless of them thought that this was a fantasy, but in the end, we defeated all the teams and turned all the impossibilities into possibilities. We became the first newly promoted team to win the championship in the history of Serie A.
!”
There was a burst of thunderous applause.
"Now, I want to say that we fought our way out of the group of death, surrounded by strong European teams such as Bayern, Real Madrid and Zenit. We have proved with facts that Naples is not a soft persimmon who can be manipulated by others. We have the ability."
Go for what you want.”
"Here, I want to tell everyone that no matter who the opponent we face next, whether it is Chelsea or other teams, we at Naples don't care, because they are destined to be our defeat."
"We have only one goal, and that is the championship! All championships!"
"Here, my players and I promise everyone that we will do our best to fulfill this solemn promise!"
As soon as Gao Shen finished speaking, the audience burst into thunderous applause.
