Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Napoli was crowned champion of Italy on Thursday evening. Luciano Spalletti’s team drew 1-1 against Udinese and, with five league games left on the program, is now no longer traceable by the competition.
Long wait is over: Napoli takes first Scudetto since Maradona era
The Scudetto for Napoli had been announced for months. Spalletti’s side have towered far above the rest of the league this season. And have been at the top of the table since mid-September. Last Sunday, Napoli could already become champion, but then things went wrong in the home game against Salernitana (1-1). The champagne could still be uncorked on Thursday.
Napoli played an away game, but their own Stadio Diego Armando Maradona was packed. There, the more than sixty thousand supporters who could not go to the north of the country could follow the encounter with Udinese on large TV screens. It produced beautiful images.
The atmosphere was good, but it turned after a false start from Napoli. The leader did not show much in the first fifteen minutes and fell behind 1-0. When Sandi Lovric was given a lot of space and placed the ball beautifully in the top corner. Napoli had to chase, but in the first half (perhaps because of the championship jitters) did not get any serious chance for the equaliser.
In the second half it still worked out well for Napoli. Six minutes after the break, Victor Osimhen scored the 1-1 after Udinese had not cleared the ball from a corner for the visitors. For Osimhen it was his 22nd goal of the season: in the history of Serie A, an African player has never scored more goals in one football year (Samuel Eto’o scored 21 for Inter in 2010/11).
Udinese failed to hurt Napoli again and so Osimhen’s goal was decisive for winning the championship
For Napoli this means the third Scudetto in club history. Partenopei previously took the national title in 1987 and 1990. When Diego Maradona was still the big star of the team. It took a while, but the success of that time has been matched. Spalletti and co have created something special.
