Lobotka and Cannavaro cross paths in Naples' Rione Sanità

Rione Sanità, a historic neighbourhood in central Naples, is once again where Napoli football meets the city's identity. In the same hours, two separate visits to Concettina ai Tre Santi, the neighbourhood's well-known pizzeria, tied together the same loyalty to Naples: Stanislav Lobotka and Fabio Cannavaro.

The same pizzeria hosted the celebrations for Fabio Cannavaro's 53rd birthday. The 2006 Ballon d'Or winner, now head coach of Uzbekistan, was back in his home city for an intimate moment, away from the duties of a job that currently keeps him thousands of kilometres from Italy.

Two different stories — one who arrived from abroad and found a home in Napoli blue, one born in Naples who now coaches a national team far away — crossed paths for one evening at the same Rione Sanità restaurant. It's a small detail, but the kind that shows how much the city remains a fixed point even for those who left it long ago. Lobotka, meanwhile, is already looking to the trip to the Franchi on Sunday 20 September, where Napoli face Fiorentina at 12:30 CET trying to shift a league table that has shown no mercy so far.