THE VITALS:

Team: Napoli

Brand: Macron

Era: 2013-14 (Used for the 2013-14 Serie A season, and for the 2014 Coppa Italia Final)

Name/Number: Higuain #9

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This shirt comes to you in nothing short of excellent condition! Looking as good as new; the material, club crest, Macron embroidery, sponsor decal, Serie A arm badge and the name and numbering are all in simply immaculate condition.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Medium

Pit to Pit Measurement: 21 inches

Shirt Length: 28.5 inches

Much like the previous season’s shirt, the 2013-14 Macron fit, despite being a medium, may actually be better suited to a size large.

DESCRIPTION:

The 2013-14 Napoli home shirt would be considered a straight successor to the previous season’s shirt, dropping the v-neck collar, the collar reverted to a crew neck, all the while retaining the white and blue stripe motif, which now covered the back of the neck. The shade of blue would be more of a cyan tone as opposed to celeste, while the sleeves were now also fully blue, rather than being broken up by the white and blue hoops. Much like the previous season’s shirt, the material of this shirt is quite dense and tough; something you immediately take notice of as soon as the fabric is in your hands!

THE SEASON:

The end of 2012-13 season would be the end of an era for ‘I Partenopei’ as coach Walter Mazzarri and star-striker Edinson Cavani bid the San Paolo farewell. Their parting gift would be a wonderful 2^nd place finish in Serie A to return the club back to the Champions League. The managerial hot-seat would be filled in by Rafa Benitez, and his reign would see the proceeds’ of the €64.5 million received for Edinson Cavani spent on the likes of: Gonzalo Higuain, Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon, Anthony Reveillere, Raul Albiol, Duvan Zapata, Pablo Armero and Pepe Reina. The Benitez era would begin with 4 straight wins in Serie A, and would not taste defeat in the league until the round of 8 when they were beaten by Roma in top of the table showdown. In Europe, they would be dealt one of the most competitive groups in Champions League history, where they were pitted with: Olympique Marseille, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, and 2-1 win over the 2013 runners-up: Dortmund, would get Napoli off the mark. A disappointing November would see Napoli fall against Juventus, Parma and Dortmund (in the return outing), to put their Last 16 qualification hopes on a knife edge, and 6 points behind league leaders Juventus. 2013 would end cruelly as Napoli, despite registering 12 points alongside both Dortmund and Arsenal, would get the short straw and be relegated into the Europa League, while the gap in Serie A was now 8 points. 2014 would see more arrivals as: Jorginho, Henrique and Faouzi Ghoulam were all signed to reinvigorate the back-line, and the year would begin with 2 wins and 2 clean sheets as Serie A restarted on January 6^th 2014, and the month would end with a place in the Coppa Italia semi-final, following eliminations of Atalanta and Lazio. After back to back defeats to Atalanta (in Serie A), and Roma in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final; Napoli would go unbeaten in their next 8 games in domestic competion; coming back from their deficit to defy Roma and reach a 2^nd Coppa Italia final in 3 seasons, as well defeating ‘I Giallorossi’ in Serie A on 09/03/14. They would win 7 of their last 11 league games, including a win against: Juventus on 30/03/14, and although they would finish 3^rd, they would accumulate the same 78 points they did in the previous season. The season would end with a satisfying 3-1 triumph over Fiorentina on May 3^rd!

The notable players that season were:

Gonzalo Higuain, Duvan Zapata, Eduardo Vargas, Lorenzo Insigne, Goran Pandev, Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon, Marek Hamsik, Valon Behrami, Marco Donadel, Gokhan Inler, Josip Radosevic, Blerim Dzemaili, Jorginho, Christian Maggio, Miguel Britos, Juan Zuniga, Raul Albiol, Faouzi Ghoulam, Federico Fernandez, Anthony Reveillere, Giandomenico Mesto, Paolo Cannavaro, Henrique, Pablo Armero, Pepe Reina, Rafael