After 33 years, the footballers of Naples are the champions of the Italian league. After today’s 1:1 draw at Udine, coach Luciano Spalletti’s men have an unattainable 16-point lead over second-placed Lazio Roma with five rounds to go. Napoli dominated Serie A for the third time in history.
The league leader in Udine was losing from the 13th minute after a goal by Sandi Lovrič, but in the 53rd minute Victor Osimhen, the best scorer of the competition, equalized with his 22nd hit of the season. Napoli used the second attempt to confirm the title, failing to hold the lead against Salernitana on Saturday and only drawing 1-1.
The club from under Vesuvius has so far won the only two championship titles in 1987 and 1990 in the era of the legendary Argentine Diego Maradona. After 22 years, Serie A was dominated by a team other than the big clubs from northern Italy. The supremacy of Juventus Turin and AC Milan’s teams with Inter was last disrupted by AS Roma in 2001.
The 64-year-old Spalletti, who in the past finished in second place four times with AS Rome, received his dream “Scudetto”. The experienced coach added to his collection a third league triumph to two in the Russian top flight with St. Petersburg.
Napoli confirmed a successful season in which they reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In it, it was not enough for AC Milan, which alternates on the Italian throne. She laid the foundation for the league triumph in the fall with a streak of 11 wins, which she followed up after the New Year with eight victories in nine games.
Italian Football League – Round of 33:
Empoli – Bologna 3:1 (1. owned by Lucumi, 45.+1 Akpa Akpro, 68. Cambiaghi – 88. Orsolini from pen.), Udine – Naples 1:1 (13. Lovrič – 53. Osimhen).
Table:
1. Napoli 33 25 5 3 69:23 80 2. Lazio Rome 33 19 7 7 52:24 64 3. Juventus Turin 33 19 6 8 50:28 63 4. Inter Milan 33 19 3 11 60:35 60 5. Bergamo 33 17 7 9 56:39 58 6. AC Milan 33 16 10 7 53:39 58 7. AS Roma 33 17 7 9 45:31 58 8. Fiorentina 33 12 10 11 45:39 46 9. Bologna 33 12 9 12 42:43 45 10. Monza 33 12 9 12 41:44 45 11. FC Torino 33 12 9 12 35:38 45 12. Udine 33 10 13 10 43:41 43 13. Sassuolo 33 12 7 14 40:49 43 14 .Salernitana 33 7 14 12 41:54 35 15. Empoli 33 8 11 14 29:43 35 16. Lecce 33 7 10 16 28:40 31 17. Hellas Verona 33 6 9 18 27:51 27 18. Spezia 33 5 12 16 28:54 27 19. Cremona 33 3 12 18 29:59 21 20. Sampdoria Genoa 33 3 8 22 20:59 17
