Because less players equal more space to pass and move

Roberto Mancini claims that Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain

Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini claims that Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain is the Lionel Messi of Italian football after the striker’s latest goals helped the club moved to the top of the Italian Serie A.

Napoli have not been one of the contenders for the Italian league title in the last few years. This has been due to the departure of Walter Mazzarri and the exit of players like Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez. It has taken the club a long time to recover from such sudden departures of big names. They are finally showing signs of reclaiming their top dog status in the league.

Napoli, Fiorentina, and Inter Milan are all showing signs of taking the title from the hands of Juventus, who have been crowned as the champions for the last couple of seasons. Unlike the la Liga, the Italian league does not have a lot of star names. It has been a long time since a player from Italian football won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. This has been due to the inability to score goals at the rate of players like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Higuain, though, seems like putting up a fight this season after scoring 14 goals already.

Mancini has compared him to Messi, who has only five league goals this season.“[Maurizio] Sarri said we had one chance in 90 minutes? It didn't seem to me that it went like that. Napoli were very good and Higuain made the difference with an extraordinary goal after a minute.Higuain in Italy is like Messi to the rest of the world. He's giving something to Napoli that the other teams don't have.Going behind straight away put us in trouble in the first quarter of an hour, then the match was normal and balanced,” said Mancini.