1997–98 SSC Napoli season

Napoli
1997–98 season
President	Corrado Ferlaino
Manager	Bortolo Mutti; (until 6 October 1997) ; Carlo Mazzone; (until 24 November 1997) ; Giovanni Galeone; (until 9 February 1998) ; Vincenzo Montefusco
Stadium	San Paolo
Serie A	18th (in 1998-99 Serie B)
Coppa Italia	Last 16
Top goalscorer	Claudio Bellucci (10)

S.S.C. Napoli crashed out of Serie A following a disastrous season. It only clinched 14 points out of 34 matches, despite having the services of several experienced Serie A players. Napoli went through four coaches over the course of the season, and hardly took a point in the second half of the season. Given the disastrous form of the team, Claudio Bellucci's ten goals were impressive, while thought top scorer Igor Protti was one of the largest disappointments of the entire series. The lack of defensive skills cost Napoli many points, and more than two goals were conceded on average. This was despite Roberto Ayala's brilliance, which earned him a transfer to A.C. Milan.

Only eight years following Napoli's second title, the club seemed to be in terminal decline, with hard work being needed to return to the top domestic league. Given that the club had not been relegated since a bankruptcy in 1964, the relegation was a shock, by the extremely poor season.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ITA	Giuseppe Taglialatela
—	GK	ITA	Raffaele Di Fusco
—	GK	ITA	Ferdinando Coppola
—	DF	ARG	Roberto Ayala
—	DF	ITA	Francesco Baldini
—	DF	ITA	Luigi Malafronte
—	DF	ITA	Mauro Facci
—	DF	BEL	Bertrand Crasson
—	DF	ITA	Raffaele Sergio
—	DF	ITA	Luigi Panarelli
—	DF	FRA	William Prunier
—	DF	ITA	Guglielmo Stendardo
—	DF	ITA	Mirko Taccola
—	DF	ITA	Mirko Conte
—	MF	ITA	Marco Zamboni


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ITA	Raffaele Longo
—	MF	ITA	Francesco Turrini
—	MF	ITA	Roberto Goretti
—	MF	ITA	Massimiliano Esposito
—	MF	ITA	Giuseppe Giannini
—	MF	ITA	Fabio Rossitto
—	MF	FRA	Reynald Pedros
—	MF	ITA	Gennaro Scarlato
—	MF	ITA	Massimiliano Allegri
—	MF	CRO	Aljoša Asanović
—	MF	ITA	Angelo Cimadomo
—	MF	ITA	Luca Altomare
—	FW	ITA	Claudio Bellucci
—	FW	ITA	Igor Protti
—	FW	ITA	Gennaro Scarlato
—	FW	YUG	Damir Stojak
—	FW	ITA	Salvatore Bruno
—	FW	ARG	José Luis Calderón

Transfers

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
FW	Igor Protti	S.S. Lazio	loan
MF	Fabio Rossitto	Udinese
DF	Raffaele Sergio	Udinese
FW	Claudio Bellucci	Venezia
FW	José Luis Calderón	Independiente
DF	Mirko Conte	Piacenza Calcio
MF	Giuseppe Giannini	Sturm Graz
DF	William Prunier	Manchester United
DF	Mauro Facci	Salernitana

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
MF	Beto	Flamengo
FW	Nicola Caccia	Atalanta
MF	Alain Boghossian	Sampdoria
DF	Francesco Colonnese	Inter
DF	André Cruz	A.C. Milan
FW	Alfredo Aglietti	Verona
FW	Dino Fava Passaro	Acireale
MF	Fabio Pecchia	Juventus
DF	Mauro Milanese	Parma F.C.
FW	Caio	Santos

Winter

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
FW	Damir Stojak	Vojvodina
MF	Reynald Pedros	Parma F.C.
MF	Massimiliano Allegri	Padova Calcio
FW	Aljoša Asanović	Derby County

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
FW	José Luis Calderón	Independiente
DF	Mirko Conte	Vicenza Calcio
DF	Mirko Taccola	Lucchese
DF	Alessandro Sbrizzo	Padova Calcio
DF	William Prunier	Hearts
MF	Massimiliano Esposito	Hellas Verona
DF	Marco Zamboni	Chievo Verona
MF	Giuseppe Giannini	U.S. Lecce

Competitions

Serie A

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
14	Vicenza	34	9	9	16	36	61	−25	36
15	Brescia (R)	34	9	8	17	45	63	−18	35	Relegation to Serie B
16	Atalanta (R)	34	7	11	16	25	48	−23	32
17	Lecce (R)	34	6	8	20	32	72	−40	26
18	Napoli (R)	34	2	8	24	25	76	−51	14

Source: 1997–98 Serie A, RSSSF.com, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw. (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).[1]
(R) Relegated

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	D	L	W	L	L	L	D	D	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	D
Position	11	9	8	12	14	14	17	17	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; P = Postponed; = Leader, 1998–99 UEFA Champions League Group stage; = 1998–99 UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying round; = 1998–99 UEFA Cup First round; = Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round; = Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round; = 1998–99 Serie B

Matches

1	Lazio	2–0	Napoli
	Mancini 68' Pancaro 76'

2	Napoli	2–1	Empoli
	Bellucci 33' Protti 48'		C. Esposito 77'

3	Vicenza	1–1	Napoli
	Di Napoli 17'		Turrini 18'

4	Napoli	0–1	Atalanta
			Caccia 50'

5	Roma	6–2	Napoli
	Candela 16' Gautieri 34' Balbo 51, 60, 89' Di Francesco 53'		Altomare 71' Bellucci 87' (pen.)

6	Napoli	0–2	Inter
			Galante 10' Turrini 69' (o.g.)

7	Bologna	5–1	Napoli
	R. Baggio 48' (pen.) 90' 90 + 5' (pen.) K. Andersson 55, 90 + 3'		Goretti 14'

8	Napoli	1–2	Juventus
	Bellucci 55'		Zidane 38' Fonseca 88'

9	Lecce	2–0	Napoli
	M. Rossi 50' Palmieri 61'

10	Napoli	1–1	Fiorentina
	Turrini 34'		Firicano 28'

11	Piacenza	1–0	Napoli
	Rastelli 87'

12	Napoli	0–4	Parma
			Blomqvist 18' D. Baggio 53' Crespo 65, 73'

13	Sampdoria	6–3	Napoli
	Boghossian 35' Montella 42' (pen.) 61' 90' (pen.) Klinsmann 73' Laigle 76'		Bellucci 15' Protti 70' Rossitto 78'

14	Napoli	1–2	Milan
	Bellucci 75'		Ganz 52' Leonardo 71'

15	Udinese	1–1	Napoli
	Crasson 90 + 2' (o.g.)		Bellucci 27'

16	Napoli	0–3	Brescia
			Pirlo 13' Koźmiński 53' Diana 90 + 3'

17	Bari	2–0	Napoli
	Marcolini 74' Sala 90 + 3'

18

Napoli

0–0

Lazio

19	Empoli	5–0	Napoli
	C. Esposito 24' Cappellini 37' Pane 50' Florijančič 70, 75'

20	Napoli	2–0	Vicenza
	Turrini 43' (pen.) Stojak 47'

21	Atalanta	1–0	Napoli
	Lucarelli 16'

22	Napoli	0–2	Roma
			Totti 54' Di Biagio 62'

23	Inter	2–0	Napoli
	Zamorano 63' Ronaldo 73' (pen.)

24

Napoli

0–0

Bologna

25	Juventus	2–2	Napoli
	Del Piero 46' Zalayeta 75'		Turrini 69' Protti 90 + 2'

26	Napoli	2–4	Lecce
	Protti 35' (pen.) Altomare 73'		Casale 2' Palmieri 29' Ayala 75' (o.g.) Atelkin 90 + 3'

27	Fiorentina	4–0	Napoli
	Batistuta 40, 67' Robbiati 80' Edmundo 86'

28	Napoli	1–2	Piacenza
	Bellucci 51'		Scienza 34' Dionigi 84' (pen.)

29	Parma	3–1	Napoli
	Crespo 3, 86' Apolloni 76'		Bellucci 69'

30	Napoli	0–2	Sampdoria
			Crasson 33' (o.g.) Laigle 87'

31

Milan

0–0

Napoli

32	Napoli	1–3	Udinese
	Turrini 12' (pen.)		Poggi 4' Bierhoff 45, 87'

33	Brescia	2–1	Napoli
	Adani 57' Neri 81'		Bellucci 56'

34	Napoli	2–2	Bari
	Bellucci 13' Stojak 48'		Guerrero 6' Volpi 37'

Statistics

Players statistics

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		1997-98 Serie A
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ITA	Giuseppe Taglialatela	28	-55	27+1	-55
6	DF	ARG	Roberto Ayala	28	0	28	0
15	DF	ITA	Francesco Baldini	30	0	30	0
22	DF	BEL	Bertrand Crasson	22	0	19+3	0
14	MF	ITA	Luca Altomare	24	2	16+8	2
8	MF	ITA	Raffaele Longo	29	0	24+5	0
7	MF	ITA	Francesco Turrini	27	5	26+1	5
18	MF	ITA	Roberto Goretti	26	1	25+1	1
4	MF	ITA	Fabio Rossitto	28	1	28	1
9	FW	ITA	Claudio Bellucci	27	10	27	10
10	FW	ITA	Igor Protti	27	4	24+3	4
12	GK	ITA	Raffaele Di Fusco	7	-19	5+2	-19
5	DF	ITA	Mauro Facci	17	0	17	0
3	DF	ITA	Raffaele Sergio	12	0	11+1	0
16	DF	ITA	Luigi Malafronte	10	0	9+1	0
30	MF	CRO	Aljoša Asanović	15	0	8+7	0
31	FW	YUG	Damir Stojak	13	2	8+5	2
13	DF	ITA	Luigi Panarelli	17	0	6+11	0
19	MF	ITA	Gennaro Scarlato	19	0	6+13	0
28	MF	ITA	Massimiliano Allegri	7	0	6+1	0
25	MF	FRA	Reynald Pedros	3	0	1+2	0
23	GK	ITA	Ferdinando Coppola	1	-2	1	-2
29	FW	ITA	Salvatore Bruno	3	0	1+2	0
17	MF	ITA	Angelo Cimadomo	2	0	0+2	0
33	DF	ITA	Guglielmo Stendardo	1	0	0+1	0
32	DF	ITA	Emanuele Troise	0	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
24	DF	ITA	Mirko Conte	9	0	8+1	0
27	MF	ITA	Giuseppe Giannini	4	0	4	0
26	MF	ITA	Marco Zamboni	4	0	3+1	0
11	FW	ARG	José Luis Calderón	6	0	2+4	0
2	DF	FRA	William Prunier	3	0	2+1	0
20	MF	ITA	Massimiliano Esposito	4	0	1+3	0
21	DF	ITA	Alessandro Sbrizzo	2	0	0+2	0

Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/allenatori_squadra/1997/1135/

References

Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. - Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.

Sources

RSSSF - Italy 1997/98

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[1] Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. - Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.