Special days for Alexander Good morning. With the typical week, Napoli is approaching Sunday’s match against Torino (Antonio Conte speaks in the press conference today) and the Italian defender will experience a day of great emotions for the first match with his team. An indelible bond for someone who entered the Torino youth team at the age of 8, moreover on the pitch of the Olimpico Grande Torino, a stone’s throw from the neighborhood where he was born, and where he took his first steps also acting as a ball boy to start breathing that air which then led him to his debut in Serie A at 18 years old. At the kick-off, however, there will be only one objective: to confirm themselves as insurmountable, already a defensive leader and more, and to win another victory to remain at the top of the standings.
What growth with Antonio Conte
There is a lot of Alessandro Buongiorno behind the record of Napoli who built their ranking primarily with defensive solidity (second best defense and second contrary xG due to the danger shown by their opponents). Paid 35 million euros (plus 5 as a bonus), the Napoli defender not only confirmed all his qualities but under Conte’s guidance he is continuing to grow further, appearing increasingly cleaner in duels, collecting fewer fouls and above all fewer yellow cards than at Turin, and completing themselves in the game, starting from the construction. “Now the defender is the first one from whom the action must start and with the coach we are also working hard on this aspect to receive and extend the opposing team who must come to get you”, the words yesterday to Cronache di Spogliatoio in a long interview .
The passage in blue
The Napoli defender, who also made a name for himself with the national team, also returned to the transfer to Napoli, which started with a meeting with Antonio Conte in a Turin restaurant: “We met one evening, by chance , in a restaurant in Turin. We spoke there for 10-15 minutes, after which we spoke a few times and then in the end I chose and said yes”, Buongiorno’s story of that meeting revealed by a photo that went viral in those days in the middle of the transfer market. And again: “Playing at Maradona? It’s incredible. When you walk around the city you sense a unique passion. And then here there is only one team: the Neapolitan supports Napoli. Adapting to an environment like that was easy.” And the numbers and performances confirm it.