CorSport – Napoli, Buongiorno set for return to the pitch | OneFootball

Conte wants to regain defensive solidity: Buongiorno could be a key factor

In eight days, Napoli will return to the pitch away against Torino for the seventh matchday of the league. The team continues to work at Castel Volturno without the internationals and taking into account the injured players who are obviously not with the group. After yesterday’s two training sessions, with strength work in the gym and technical-tactical drills on the field, today’s program includes another double session with a joint training with Biancolino’s Avellino, just as happened at the beginning of September during the first international break. It’s a way to collect minutes for those who have played less and to keep up match rhythm while waiting to return to the pitch.

In September, during that very occasion, Lucca stood out by scoring a hat-trick. The Azzurri striker is among the players taking advantage of the break to keep working and push harder while waiting for his chances. Noa Lang is also on this list, having played just fifty-one minutes so far this season. Very soon, it will be his and others’ turn. Upon resumption, in fact, Napoli will face seven matches in less than a month. There will be games every three days between the league and the Champions League. From Torino to Bologna. There will be room for everyone. Very soon, the season will enter its crucial phase.

Alessandro Buongiorno’s return to the field is approaching. On the horizon is the away match against Torino, Saturday, October 18 at 6 pm, in the stadium where he grew up, to which many of his memories are tied. For Conte, it will be a valuable recovery; for Buongiorno, a special day at the club where it all began. He was five years old when he became attached to the Granata colors, which he only left last summer to move to Napoli. In one year, he won the Scudetto and now wants to become a protagonist again after the injury suffered on the fourth matchday.

Buongiorno had to stop after just returning. He was gaining momentum—Cagliari, Fiorentina, and City to restart—then with Pisa, another stop, another muscle problem diagnosed and a new outcome after instrumental tests: “Low-grade lesion of the adductor longus muscle of the left thigh.” Buongiorno was forced to miss—after the first game against Sassuolo when he was recovering from a previous injury—the matches against Milan and Genoa in the league and the one against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. In total, out of 46 matches between last season and this one, he has missed 20 times. Now he wants to regain the consistency that will allow him to establish himself as a defensive leader, as he already did right away, just a few months after his arrival. Then a series of physical problems and now this new stop. But the worst is behind him. The roadmap continues and points to Torino. Eight days to the match. The time needed to fully recover.

Conte will also rely on him—while waiting for Rrahmani—to regain a clean sheet, which has been missing since August 30, Napoli-Cagliari, the second league match. Since then, at least one goal conceded per game, a peculiar statistic for the team that had the best defense in Europe last season with just 27 goals conceded. Buongiorno is ready to take his place again at the heart of the defense, much to Conte’s delight, who, with Juan Jesus, has already found a valuable ally, another loyal player with guaranteed performance. The former Torino player, however, has unique characteristics. With his physicality and speed, he accepts individual duels, allows the team to push up, and gain ground. Running backwards, he quickly recovers both ground and position. With Napoli, both the team and the city, he had an immediate impact. Conte spoke of him as a possible future captain in many years, a compliment to the person even before the player. He had already worn the armband at Torino. A unique emotion, like his first time in Serie A.

Carlo Gioia

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.