Napoli celebrates its fourth championship title

(sda) Napoli are Italian champions for the fourth time. The southern Italians defended their lead over defending champions Inter Milan in the 38th and final round of Serie A thanks to a 2-0 win against Cagliari.

The Neapolitans entered their long-distance clash with Inter Milan, which was brought forward to Friday, with a one-point advantage. In the home game against Cagliari, who had nothing left to win or lose on the final matchday, they fulfilled their duty at their home stadium, the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku, Napoli's top scorer this season, secured the undisputed victory for coach Antonio Conte's team with their goals. He led a third club to the Scudetto after Juventus Turin and Inter Milan.

Basel's Noah Okafor is also part of the championship-winning team. The 24-time Swiss international joined Napoli on loan from Milan in February. With just 36 minutes of playing time in four months and no scoring points, his contribution to the title was minimal. He is expected to return to Milan in the summer.

Inter Milan would have been on hand if Napoli had slipped up. The defending champions, who had dropped too many points in recent weeks, won 2-0 in Como with goalkeeper Yann Sommer in charge. Sommer and his team can console themselves for missing out on the Scudetto next weekend, when Inter Milan will play Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Munich.

For Napoli, which lost the brilliant Georgian Khvitsa Kvarazkhelia to PSG during the season, the fourth league title came rather unexpectedly after those in 1987, 1990, and 2023. Under Conte, the team was no longer as irresistible as it had been two years ago under current Italian national coach Luciano Spalletti, but solid enough to benefit from the lack of consistency among its competitors.