May 24, Rome After defeating Cagliari 2-0 at home in the last round, Napoli repelled Inter Milan’s siege to win its fourth Serie A championship on Friday, negating the Nerazzurri’s victory over Como.

Prior to Friday, the Scudetto race was essentially a two-horse contest. Antonio Conte’s team simply needed one win to guarantee their Serie A title, independent of Inter’s outcome, since Napoli had 79 points going into their last matchday, one point ahead of Inter.

According to Xinhua, Cagliari had already secured their place in Serie A during the 37th round and had nothing else to play for on Friday. However, Napoli only broke the tie just before halftime when Scott McTominay scored with an incredible acrobatic scissor kick and Matteo Politano whipped in a cross.

Six minutes after halftime, Romelu Lukaku increased the advantage. The Belgian grabbed the ball in the middle of the pitch and charged forward, fending off shoulder-to-shoulder tackles before scoring with a low shot.

Following a 33-year wait, Napoli had a significant advantage in the 2022–2023 season under Luciano Spalletti, and this is their second Serie A title in three years.

It is also a historic occasion for Conte, who, after leading Juventus and Inter Milan to the championship, became the first coach to win Serie A with three separate teams.

While Como’s veteran goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who has chosen to retire at the end of the season, ended his career with a red card after rushing out to bring down Mehdi Taremi outside the box in the first half, Inter drastically changed up their starting lineup but still won 2-0 away thanks to goals from Stefan de Vrij and Joaquin Correa.

With 81 points, Inter finished the Serie A season in second place, only one point behind Napoli. However, with the Champions League final on May 31, Simone Inzaghi’s team must turn their attention to the competition and cannot afford to linger on the sorrow.