Napoli clinched their second Serie A title in three seasons after edging out Inter Milan thanks to a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari in a dramatic finale to the season on Friday.
It sealed a fourth Italian championship for Napoli, and a new record for head coach Antonio Conte. The Italian, 55, has become the first coach to win Serie A with three different clubs after previous titles with Inter Milan and Juventus.
Napoli led defending champions Inter by one point entering the final round and it briefly looked like the title might be staying in Milan in the first half.
Inter took the lead over Como in the 20th minute of a game being played simultaneously to Napoli’s match. But it was Conte’s two big summer signings who ensured the Scudetto headed back to Naples.
Scott McTominay went airborne to redirect a cross from Matteo Politano in the 42nd minute for his 12th goal this season after transferring from Manchester United.
Then Romelu Lukaku, who was signed from Chelsea in August, controlled a long vertical pass and dribbled by two defenders before scoring in the 51st. It was his 14th goal to go with his league-leading 10 assists.
It meant Inter’s 2-0 win at 10-man Como wasn’t enough for the Nerazzurri as Napoli claimed the title by a single point to ignite the celebrations at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the stadium named after the man who led Napoli to their first two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.
After the glory days of Maradona faded, Napoli ended a 23-year wait to win the Scudetto when a team led by Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia marched to glory in 2023.
But having finished 10th last season, Conte has returned Napoli to the summit of Italian soccer.
Conte has already won four Italian leagues. He led Juventus to the first three of their nine successive Serie A titles in each of his three seasons in charge from 2011-14, and won it with Inter in 2021.
In between them, he bagged a Premier League title with Chelsea in 2017.
While a handful of coaches have won Serie A with two teams, no one has ever done it with three. Although there is a significant asterisk.
Fabio Capello lifted league trophies with AC Milan (four times) and Roma before steering Juventus to back-to-back triumphs in 2005 and 2006, but the Bianconeri were stripped of both of those titles because of the Calciopoli refereeing scandal.
Conte inherited a team that was coming off a horrible season, having put up one of the worst title defenses in history and churning through three coaches.
Transforming the team back into title winners arguably ranks as one of Conte’s biggest achievements.
After losing an opener to Hellas Verona, Napoli won eight of their next nine games before winning seven in a row from mid-December through to the beginning of February.
Even the exit of star winger Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain in January did not slow Napoli down, with just one defeat since his exit.
In the absence of Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen — who joined Galatasaray on loan last summer — Conte has drawn inspired form from Lukaku and McTominay, while building the most solid defence in Serie A.
Napoli have been aided by the fact they were without Europe this season and were knocked out of the Coppa Italia at the round of 16, whereas main rivals Inter reached the final of the UEFA Champions League and semifinals of the Coppa Italia.
Napoli will now return to Europe’s premier competition, with a big summer potentially ahead to bolster a thin squad.
Inter, who not long ago were dreaming of a treble, will now have to turn their focus to the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain on May 31.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
