Rrahmani's goal couldn't save Napoli's 2021 Champions League chase

On 23 May 2021, Gennaro Gattuso's Napoli hosted Verona at the Maradona. Rrahmani scored in the 60th minute, a goal that kept alive Napoli's push for a Champions League place.

It is one of those moments that matters more than the result on the day: a goal scored on the afternoon that alone decided the final standings of an entire season, yet still wasn't enough to change the outcome. The Champions League place Napoli had chased all the way to that point was settled there, against Verona.

Rrahmani is still at the club. The same defender who scored that day now wears the number 13 shirt and has just signed a contract extension with Napoli until 2029, worth around €3.8m a season. The centre-back who couldn't keep Napoli in the Champions League race in 2021 is the same one Allegri has at his disposal now, with Napoli ninth after five matchdays, well off the fourth place set as this season's minimum target.

The parallel with now is in the facts, not the mood: this season Napoli have already led three times — against Como, Inter and Fiorentina — only to be pulled back within a few minutes each time. After the draw in Florence, Allegri asked the squad, in public and in the dressing room, for more bite: the same old problem, a goal that isn't enough, on a different bench, in a different season. A detail no one at Napoli would want to live through again.