Napoli vs Roma is the oldest southern grudge in Italian football, and on Saturday 24 October it comes with a new cast. Massimiliano Allegri takes his first Derby del Sole as Napoli coach, Gian Piero Gasperini brings an unbeaten Roma to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and the player Roma fans have fallen for is a Dutch forward who was at Aston Villa not long ago. Kick-off is 18:00 in Naples, 17:00 in the UK and noon on the US East Coast.
Malen, of all people
Donyell Malen didn't arrive in Rome as a headline signing. He came from Villa on loan, and Roma made the move permanent over the summer. Six league games in, he had six goals, more than anyone else at the club, while Roma had the best goal difference in Serie A and a share of the meanest defence.
There's a catch. Malen was sent off in the goalless draw at Como on 11 October, and whether that affects his involvement here should be clearer nearer the weekend. Either way, he's the focal point of an attack that also added Santiago Castro from Bologna and Rodrigo Mora from Porto.
Napoli
RomaAllegri's first big night in Naples
Allegri was sacked by AC Milan in May and appointed by Napoli on 3 July, replacing Antonio Conte, who had just taken the club to second place on 76 points. That's a heavy thing to inherit: a squad built to win now, supporters used to title races, and the Champions League on top.
The start has been patchy. Napoli won at Genoa, beat Bologna and thrashed Frosinone 3-0 on 10 October, but lost at home to Como and 3-2 at Inter, and drew 1-1 in Florence.
Europe has gone worse, with a 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal and a 3-1 loss at Villarreal on 13 October.
Kevin De Bruyne leads their league scoring with three. Rasmus Højlund, now signed permanently from Manchester United, carries the load up front after Romelu Lukaku left for Fenerbahçe, and Scott McTominay is still there in midfield next to De Bruyne, so Allegri isn't short of people who can win a big game on their own. The summer also brought goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić from Torino and Benoît Badiashile on loan from Chelsea.
Napoli vs Roma goes back to 1928
The first meeting was a 4-1 Roma win in the Coppa CONI in 1928, and it has never been only about three points. These are the two best-supported clubs outside the north, and their meetings have long been billed as the derby of the sun.
Roma lead the all-time official record: 181 played, 66 Roma wins, 59 draws and 56 for Napoli. They also own the biggest scoreline, 8-0 on 29 March 1959, and won 6-2 in 1997.
Naples has the most emotional night, though. The Maradona years were the club's golden age, and on 29 November 2020, four days after Diego Maradona died, Napoli beat Roma 4-0 in the stadium that now carries his name.
Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples. Photo: Joris, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Last season Napoli took four points off Roma, winning 1-0 in Rome and drawing 2-2 at home on 15 February, and finished three points above them.
A busy week for both
| # | Team | P | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Inter Milan | 7 | 12 | 19 | WWDWW |
| 2 |  Lazio | 7 | 10 | 19 | WWWDW |
| 3 |  Roma | 7 | 13 | 17 | WDDWW |
| 4 |  AC Milan | 7 | 7 | 15 | WDWDD |
| 5 |  Como | 7 | 5 | 14 | WDLWW |
| 6 |  Frosinone | 7 | 4 | 13 | WLWDW |
| 7 |  Cagliari | 7 | -1 | 13 | LDWWW |
| 8 |  Juventus | 7 | 1 | 11 | LDWLD |
| 9 |  Napoli | 7 | 3 | 10 | LWDWL |
| 10 |  Torino | 7 | 1 | 10 | WWDLW |
| 11 |  Atalanta | 7 | -1 | 9 | LWLLL |
Napoli were eighth on 10 points after six games and Roma third on 14, with only three goals conceded. Neither side gets a quiet build-up. Napoli host Venezia on 17 October and Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League on 20 October, the same night Roma play Slovan Bratislava at the Olimpico.
Gasperini's side were unbeaten in Serie A going into the break, and the 2-2 draw with Inter in September suggested they can live with the champions. He also has Marten de Roon again, who knows exactly what Gasperini wants from their years together at Atalanta, plus Nahuel Molina from Atlético Madrid.
The question for Napoli is whether a squad that has looked uneven in Europe can find its best football on a Saturday evening with the Maradona full.
Who I'd back
Roma. They've conceded three goals in six league games and lost none, while Napoli have blown hot and cold under Allegri and play a Champions League game four days earlier. The Maradona will be loud, and Allegri's teams rarely lose games like this by much, so I expect one moment to settle it, quite possibly from Malen if he's available. Napoli 1-2 Roma.
The Lega Serie A website confirms the fixture time. DAMITV streams Napoli vs Roma free in HD with no signup: our Serie A streams page lists the whole weekend, the Napoli live stream hub carries this game, and Spanish speakers can use the fútbol en vivo page. On Sunday Fiorentina visit San Siro, and our Inter vs Fiorentina preview sets that one up.
