NAPOLI CAMPIONE D'ITALIA! 🩵
The Scudetto has been decided - Napoli are champions AG4IN and the city erupts in celebration. Here's my letter to the moment...
Hours before kick-off, the pandemonium had started. Crowds gathered throughout the city. Flares were lit, fireworks went off, and the songs rang out. Piazza Plebiscito, Quartieri Spagnoli and across the city, everywhere was full. Naples was alive and ready, ready to carry its team to a fourth Scudetto.
The game started exactly as Napoli would have wanted it to. They went at Cagliari from the off, somehow not scoring earlier. Giacamo Raspadori fired one inches past the post before Billy Gilmour rounded the keeper, only to see his shot blocked. Mateo Politano followed up on the rebound and blazed over. Inter had gone 1-0 up at Como, putting them top of the table as it stood. Was it going to be one of those nights for Napoli again?
No. Step up the man of the moment, Scott McTominay. A beautiful cross from Mateo Politano was met by an acrobatic scissor kick from the Scotsman, sending the Maradona and Naples itself into mayhem. The city had erupted as if it were Vesuvio herself. McTominay ran over to the fans to celebrate, as did the entire bench. It had emptied. Antonio Conte was up in the stands celebrating due to his suspension, most likely dying to be down there on the touchline with his team. Flares engulfed the Curva, and blue smoke clouded the pitch - so much so, those watching at home couldn’t see the game.
Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead after half-time with a wonderful solo run, brushing off one defender before nutmegging Yerry Mina and then slotting it into the net. Cue pandemonium part two. Shirt off, Lukaku went wild. The bench emptied again. Fireworks went off above the Maradona and Naples, at this point knew - the fourth Scudetto was happening. Players were on the sidelines jumping along to the fans’ chants, as well. They knew. And as full-time crept closer, out came the giant Scudetto boards with ‘4’ on them. The whistle went and the celebrations began. Antonio Conte made his way to the pitch, as did Aurelio De Laurentiis. Both of them embraced each other in somewhat of an awkward moment, with Conte unable to look his boss in the eye. A quick snap, one that screamed siblings being forced to make up after falling out. But it didn’t matter. Conte had done it, and in that moment, whatever comes next can wait.
Napoli win the Scudetto and Antonio Conte completes his masterpiece. The work done this season to get this Napoli side to the Serie A title is nothing short of phenomenal. If he leaves at the end of the season, he leaves a hero, delivering a second title (his first at the club) in three years for a club that had been starved of glory for so long. Scott McTominay etches himself in the history books alongside Diego Maradona, as does Romelu Lukaku. A squad not fit to win a title, they said. A squad that lost Victor Osimhen at the start of the season and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia partway through. But a squad that gets what it means, a squad that embraces Naples and its quirks. A squad that united and delivered glory to Naples once again.
Naples partied into the night and will be dancing for weeks. They turned the three into a four and loved every minute. Fireworks, horns, flares and songs went off into the night. Naples rarely sleeps; it is a city of constant chaos most of the time. So, when a team wins the Scudetto in a city like Naples, one of mayhem and one that devotes its life to its team, you can start to understand the aftermath. Vedi Napoli E Poi Muori. Sarò con te, Napoli torne CAMPIONE.