Truly unstoppable this year is Napoli’s march in Serie A. A championship to be crowned, which ended yesterday with the Azzurri’s 2-0 home victory over Sampdoria, with a goal in the second half from Osimhen on a penalty kick and a great shot from distance by Simeone in the final. A championship dominated for eight long months, decidedly one-sided, which will go down in history not only for the return to victory of Napoli – who won their third Scudetto, after those of 1986/87 and 1989/90 – but also because the Campania team managed to equal the record for winning the most days in advance: a good five. Before Spalletti’s Napoli, only four other teams had managed such a feat in the past: Torino in 1948, Fiorentina in 1956, Inter in 2007 and Juventus in 2019. In the history of Serie A, however, no one has ever managed to win the tricolour six rounds in advance, only Juventus came close in 2018/19, but it was Napoli who postponed the Bianconeri’s celebration until the following day. After the match against Sampdoria, the ceremony organised by the League in honour of the Azzurri began at 9pm, in a stadium that was completely packed (around 52,000 fans attended the Scudetto party).
During the show dedicated to the Azzurri, Spalletti was awarded as best coach of the championship, Di Lorenzo as best defender, Osimhen as best striker, and Kvaratskhelia as best player of the season. After receiving the medals, captain Di Lorenzo raised the Scudetto Cup, singing along with his teammates the most famous choruses that have accompanied the team during this extraordinary season. A season that, since the fifth day of the championship, has seen the partenopei win 11 consecutive matches. An almost perfect first round, with Napoli becoming winter champions with the largest gap ever between first and second (the widest in history). A series of victories that continued in the second half of the season, and led the Campania team to the mathematical victory of the Scudetto with a 16-point lead over the second.
This was followed by three hours of music and entertainment with the city’s top artists, starting with presenter Stefano De Martino. With him were Alessandro Siani, Nino D’Angelo, Gigi D’Alessio, Belen Rodriguez, Emma Marrone, LDA, Clementino, Enzo Avitabile, Franco Ricciardi, Arisa, Emma, Noa, Silvio Orlando, Alessandro Siani, Francesco Paolantoni, Biagio Izzo, Serena Autieri and Marisa Laurito, who concluded the evening. The curtain now falls on a historic championship… but with the promise of president Aurelio De Laurentiis that the future will always be azzurrissimo!
