Napoli have secured a first Serie A title since Diego Maradona captained their 1989/90 scudetto, with five games of an outstanding 2022/23 campaign left to play.
Luciano Spalletti’s side have made light work of the competition in Italy this season, losing just one of their opening 24 league games and picking up an incredible 65 points from a possible 72 during that run.
The commanding lead Napoli built up ensured that their slightly stuck form since early March mattered little as the scudetto had already become a case of when rather than if.
Napoli have dropped more points in their last nine league games than they had in their previous 24, but that didn’t matter much on Thursday night as they needed a point against Udinese to make themselves mathematically certain they couldn’t be caught by Lazio and Juventus.
After Salernitano’s last-gasp draw, it got off to a worrying start as Sandi Lovric put Udinese in front with just 13 minutes left. But Victor Osimhene’s equaliser, his 22nd in Serie A this season, in the early stages of the second half brought glory.
Maradona famously inspired Napoli to Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990. The club fell on hard times in the late 1990s, relegating them to Serie C1 in 2004 after declaring bankruptcy. But since returning to Serie A in 2007, they have been a top flight club.
In 2012/13, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2018/19, it finished second to Juventus on four occasions. Napoli is finally the champion of Italy again.
