Rudi Garcia, how Napoli will play – Corriere.it

Not a superhero but impossible missions intrigue him. Rudi Garcia — the name a tribute from his father to the cyclist Rudi Altig and the Andalusian surname makes him perfect for the Mediterranean profile that unites Italy, France and Spain — he had inherited Roma who had just lost the Italian Cup final against Lazio. Now he receives the Scudetto from Napoli as a dowry from Luciano Spalletti.

On May 26, 2013, a date that for Lazio fans can never be erased, for Garcia it was the past, not the present. The Roma managers were all worried because the calendar had brought the derby back to the fourth season. Too soon. Garcia, on the other hand, was fine with it. Better to deal with the tab immediately. On 22 September Roma won 2-0, with goals from Balzaretti – one of the most contested the previous season – and from Ljajic who had just arrived. It was an opportunity to also pronounce a sentence that remained in the imagination: We have put the church back in the center of the village.

In Naples he will present his favorite modules: 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. If he serves – since he is not a fundamentalist – he will change according to needs. Not sick of tactics, but he knows Serie A and its traps. In his first year in Rome he won his first ten games in a row but lost his first against Antonio Conte, who lined up his Juventus very low to leave no room for counterattacks.

Rudi loves fast players who know how to break defenses in two. Gervinho was his protégé first at Lille, where he won the league and the French Cup (2010-2011), and then at Roma. Kvara, with Garcia’s schemes, will do well. And Osimhen too, if he will stay. Rudi also likes good wine and the Giallorossi president Pallotta gave him a precious bottle of Romane-Conti, but did not buy him the players that the coach wanted to really fight on equal terms against Juventus. Two second places in the championship – with the millions that the Champions League brings – did not prevent him from being sacked on January 13, 2016. He asked for less than what Mourinho does every day, but he was not forgiven.

A fan of Saint Etienne, he coached the two historic Olympiques: Marseille and Lyon. Then went to make good money at Al-Nassr. Italy had remained in his heart for him, even for the beautiful companion he met in Rome. He comes back and gets involved, in a square suitable for him.