On paper, Napoli enjoyed one of their greatest ever seasons. They broke countless club records including a new highest points total in Serie A and most wins in a season. Maurizio Sarri's men created the perfect marriage of getting results whilst playing beautifully. Therefore, it seems almost baffling that they've ended the season in 2nd place and empty handed.
There were many reasons why Napoli's season was ultimately an anti-climax. The main one is perhaps the juggernaut known as Juventus. Despite the Partenopei leading Serie A for 21 out of the 38 weeks, the Old Lady relentlessly clung to their coattails and eventually strangled the life out of them. The key weekend came at the start of March when Juventus won in the dying embers at Lazio whilst Napoli surrendered a lead to lose at home to Roma. The Bianconeri climbed to the summit and refused to relinquish that spot.
There was of course the famous 1-0 away win at Juventus Stadium in late April which briefly gave Sarri's men hope. They closed the gap to just a point but celebrated that result as if they'd won the title and went on to completely collapse at Fiorentina in their next game. That leads on to perhaps the biggest problem Napoli had under Sarri - their mentality. Having made such a blistering start to their league campaign, the manager appeared to sacrifice cup competitions in favour of their Scudetto challenge. The Coppa Italia, Champions League and subsequently the Europa League were all seen as inconveniences. It was expected that Napoli would kick on in the league after exiting all the other competitions but it actually had the adverse effect. They put all their eggs in the Scudetto basket and it seemed to weigh too heavy on the players' shoulders.
Kalidou Koulibaly had the broadest of those shoulders and produced some mountainous performances at the back. His last minute winner in Turin will be a lasting memory of this season but his early red card in the very next game in Florence showed that he still isn't the finished article. Napoli once again played the season without a recognised centre-forward as Arkadiusz Milik suffered another serious injury and Dries Mertens failed to replicate his prolific goal-scoring form from the last campaign. Lorenzo Insigne was the brightest spark in the final third, often linking well with Jose Callejon. In midfield, Marek Hamsik became the club's all-time leading goalscorer, moving ahead of the legendary Diego Maradona but the captain's legs are starting to wane. Allan ably covered for him in that department and the Brazilian produced some tireless performances in the middle of the park.
And what of Sarri? Despite the tumbling records and beautiful football, Aurelio De Laurentiis bid farewell to the coach - swapping glorious failure for a man who has guaranteed success everywhere he's been: Carlo Ancelotti.
