Marek Hamsik's Napoli loyalty tested as he is robbed at gunpoint ... again

["HaMsIK"]

Marek Hamsik likely had other things than crime on his mind as he pulled out of the Stadio San Paolo parking lot. An hour after Napoli's 0-0 draw with Sampdoria, the midfielder might still have been reliving the chance he could not quite take, a 74th-minute daisy-cutter that Sergio Romero pushed on to the post. Perhaps, like so many of his team-mates, he was reflecting on the atrocious state of his home stadium's pitch.

But then someone stuck a pistol in his face. Hamsik had been waiting in traffic on Via Cinthia, preparing to join the Tangenziale bypass, when a scooter carrying three masked men reportedly pulled alongside his BMW. One man smashed the driver's window, before aiming a gun at Hamsik and demanding his watch – a Rolex Daytona worth upwards of €10,000 (£8,600). The player did as he was told and the scooter sped off.

For Hamsik, this was not the first time. In December 2008 he was the victim of a similar theft while Christmas shopping. Then his car was a Mini and his assailants were two instead of three but otherwise the incident was almost identical – right down to the brand of watch that was stolen.

It was widely reported in the wake of that first incident that Hamsik's watch had been returned, supposedly after the criminals realised who they had taken it from. Hamsik has denied this story. "That's what came out in the newspapers but it wasn't true," he told the Slovakian publication Pravda. "I was very sad about that watch, it was my favourite Rolex and it wasn't cheap."

Both incidents have not been the limit of Hamsik's experience with crime in Naples. In 2011 his pregnant wife, Martina, had her car stolen at gunpoint. It was later recovered thanks to a satellite tracking device.

Hamsik is yet to make any sort of public statement on Sunday's incident but his sister, Miska, made plain her feelings on Twitter. "This is the third time already," she wrote. "It's disgusting,"

 

Advertisement

We shall have to wait and see if Napoli's owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, feels moved to respond. A little over a year ago Yanina Screpante, the girlfriend of the then Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, used the same medium to define Naples as a "shit city" after having her own watch stolen. After reading her remarks, De Laurentiis issued a few choice words of his own, saying: "In a climate of recession I think you should not go around with a Rolex on your arm." He also suggested that Screpante was "not yet Neapolitan enough".

Where the owner's relationship with Lavezzi was always tempestuous, Hamsik has been long viewed as a model player. Sixty-eight goals in five and a half seasons with the club represent a phenomenal return for a player who has shifted between roles in midfield and just behind the attack, and Hamsik's approach to his work has rarely been anything other than exemplary. He is beloved of the fans and under contract to 2016.

Those supporters will hope this latest incident has not affected his feelings about staying. Despite flirtations with Milan in the past, Hamsik has always been enthusiastic about Napoli. Yet it is hard to believe that incidents such as the one that unfolded on Sunday would not become a factor in the player's feelings about the city.

Other members of the team have also been targeted. Edinson Cavani relocated his family to a residential complex with armed security after their home was broken into. His wife had her watch stolen while out shopping, as did another Napoli player, Valon Behrami.

Crime is not a uniquely Neapolitan phenomenon. Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o had their homes burgled in Milan, while Christian Vieri and Lucio were duped into handing over their car keys to fake valets. Juan, Gabriel Heinze and Christian Panucci have been robbed at different times in Rome. Leonardo Bonucci had a gun pointed at him in Turin earlier this season, though he responded by landing a series of punches on his assailant.

Advertisement

But it is one thing to be aware of crime affecting others and another to be confronted with it. Hamsik may yet shrug off this latest incident but if he were to feel unsettled then few could blame him.

The player might be frustrated enough with the way things are going on the pitch after Napoli blew another chance to close the gap on Juventus at the top of Serie A. Walter Mazzarri's side had the chance to move within two points of the leaders with victory over Sampdoria but instead trail by four.

It is not the first such opportunity they have passed up. On 3 November Juventus lost 3-1 to Inter but on 4 November Napoli conceded a late equaliser at home to Torino. On 17 November Juventus were held 0-0 against Lazio in a game that kicked off at 6pm, only for the Partenopei to be held by Milan at the Stadio San Paolo later the same evening.

Napoli's players might reasonably protest that their home advantage is not as great this season as it would have been if the pitch were better maintained. In the early part of the campaign the playing surface came to resemble a poorly maintained beach, rogue tufts of grass protruding through the sand that covered most of the field after a fungus had laid waste to the rest.

On Sunday the pitch appeared passable at kick-off but very quickly began tearing apart under the feet of the players. Large clods came away with each tackle, creating a surface that was sloppy and uneven. "It's a miracle we have this many points," protested Paolo Cannavaro. "This pitch penalises the more technically gifted team."

That much may be true but Napoli still have only themselves to blame for a lethargic performance, Hamsik's strike against the woodwork represented one of few chances created. Mazzarri made eight changes to his starting XI following their Europa League humiliation by Viktoria Plzen but once again his side lacked impetus.

Cavani, largely anonymous throughout, is without a goal in four games and the team's travails in that period highlight his importance. Napoli had not failed to score at home all season prior to this week but between Plzen and Sampdoria they did so twice in four days.

That is a credit to those two opponents as well, of course, and Sampdoria have conceded only four goals in eight games since Delio Rossi took charge. The manager was banned on Sunday after showing Roma's Nicolás Burdisso his middle finger a week earlier, but his side continued their recent resurgence with another determined performance.

Nevertheless, this was another disappointing week for Napoli. And another distressing one for Marek Hamsik.