Does Sarriball have to win or is there a higher purpose?

I get a lift to five-a-side football on a Monday night with two Italian guys called Francesco and Mariano.

They’re both from Naples but they didn’t know each other before they came to Ireland. They met in the way most men of our age seem to acquire new friends: Through their wives, who themselves met serendipitously at a baby group.

I like talking about football to Francesco and Mariano because they are both Napoli fans, meaning we have a shared hero in Diego Maradona, which in turn means we have an appreciation for the dark and complicated nature of humanity.