Napoli wins its fourth Scudetto

Italy already has its Scudetto champion.

Late this Friday, Napoli fans celebrated their fourth league title in their history after beating Cagliari 2-0, already saved. The first two were achieved under Maradona. The third and last was just two seasons ago.

The title race was fiercely contested, with Antonio Conte's side—five-time Italian champions—holding a one-point lead over Simone Inzaghi's side heading into the final matchday.

"All the credit goes to these guys. Winning it with Napoli is difficult, but these players have done it for the second time in two years," Conte commented after the victory on Italian television.

The Neapolitans dominated the match, although the Diego Armando Maradona team suffered a scare. De Vrij's 20th-minute goal in Cesc Fàbregas' Como 1907 fortress put Inter virtually in the lead for 22 minutes. Inzaghi's plan was to apply pressure from the first minute, and it worked. The bench was filled with contained tension, which could be seen on the small screen, their eyes focused on what was happening 825 kilometers away at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.

Inter had a chance to seal the victory before halftime when a counterattack left Taremi alone against Pepe Reina, but the veteran Spanish goalkeeper prevented a 2-0 lead with a providential save.

But the Scotsman McTominay appeared in the 42nd minute, thanks to a volley goal from a Matteo Politano cross, unleashing the Neapolitan crowd into a frenzy. They were ahead, and the home fans were close to winning the Scudetto .

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Lukaku sealed the victory with a 2-0 lead after taking advantage of a long ball, slipping past a defender and beating Cagliari goalkeeper Alen Sherri. The goal turned the stadium blue due to the smoke from the fans' flares, and fireworks lit up the city sky.

Inter were no longer content with a 2-0 victory and are now looking ahead to the Champions League final against Luis Enrique's PSG. Inzaghi's team had done their homework with a resounding victory, but they paid dearly for having won only three of their last six matches. The speculation surrounding a narrow result caught up with them when McTominay changed the whole situation.

The only negative note fell on Pepe Reina, who was shown a red card by VAR in the 45th minute of his farewell match as a player against Inter.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo, captain of Napoli, had the honor of raising the club's fourth Scudetto to the Neapolitan sky. With this title, the Italian full-back equals a historic record: he becomes the second Neapolitan captain to win two Italian league titles, emulating the feat of Maradona, the only one to have previously lifted two Serie A trophies in an Azzurri shirt.

McTominay, brother

Scottish star Scott McTominay, the hero of Napoli's fourth Scudetto and named Player of the Season, is no longer called McFratm. He arrived in the summer of 2024 and is now known as McFratm, a play on words in the Neapolitan language, where fratm is like saying "brother " in Italian.