Altafini says Napoli pushed him out and rejects the Higuain comparison
The former Napoli striker still refuses the nickname he earned in 1975. Before Juventus host Napoli on Sunday 1 November, he says neither Spalletti nor Allegri is a traitor.
José Altafini has never accepted the label. On 6 April 1975, in a Juventus-Napoli game that decided the title race, he came off the bench and scored to make it 2-1 against his former club. Napoli supporters have called him "core 'ngrato" (Neapolitan for "ungrateful heart") ever since. "I didn't leave Napoli because Juve were offering me more money," he says. "Everyone knows I would have stayed there until the end of my career. They practically sent me away." He also keeps his distance from Higuain, who joined Juventus in 2016 when his €90m release clause was paid.
Spalletti and Allegri both come up against their past at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday 1 November, at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). Allegri is suspended, so Landucci takes his place on the bench. Altafini wants no talk of traitors: "Neither of them is one." Asked who risks inheriting his nickname, his answer is short: "Whoever manages to win." He thinks Napoli are "perhaps a little better than Juve", but the table bothers him: "Both Juve and Napoli are already out of the title race."
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He is only half right. Lazio and Inter have 25 points, while Napoli and Juventus have 14. An 11-point gap after nine rounds matters. But nobody in Naples will accept giving up in November. Whoever wins on Sunday night goes up to 17.
Source: AreaNapoli
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