Napoli fans are over the top in their love and their fury, as the fans who famously told Luciano Spalletti they’d give back his Fiat Panda if he left have now kept their promise. Sort of.
The coach has become a hero now that he has delivered the first Scudetto this club has won since 1990, the third in their history, but it was a very different mood in the city in October 2021.
Back then, Spalletti’s car – a simple Fiat Panda – was stolen and a group of fans placed a banner outside the Stadio Maradona with this message: ‘We’ll give you back your Panda, as long as you leave!’
Now that Spalletti is indeed leaving Naples, the same ultras (wearing masks) decided to keep their pledge in amusing fashion.
They delivered a box to the press room containing only the steering wheel of a Panda, with a framed message confirming they had “melted” it down, but were at least giving him something to remember of Naples.
It included some counterfeit CDs of iconic Neapolitan singer-songwriter Pino Daniele.
Of course, in reality the car was returned to Spalletti after his appeal at the time, when the ultras somehow managed to track it down.
They did the same when players including Marek Hamsik had expensive watches stolen.
At least Spalletti and the fans took it all it good humour, as the framed message stated: “Naples is not like other cities.”