The current draw of the Italian Serie A ended with an early victory for Napoli. The Neapolitan club issued the Scudetto 5 rounds before the end of the national championship. The historic triumph was recorded on May 4 at the Friuli stadium in Udine. Victor Osimhen’s goal against the local Udinese, scored in the 52nd minute, made it possible to win a draw, which was enough to ensure the necessary breakaway from the nearest pursuer.
Before the start of the season, online bookies did not consider Napoli as a favorite. Most of the offices preferred Inter and Juventus, the chances of Milan were highly quoted. The Neapolitans, at best, were given only 5th place, after Roma. However, the confident start of the wards of Luciano Spalletti quickly forced the experts to revise their forecasts. The team won one match after another, allowing themselves only rare misfires. Already at the end of the first round, many started talking about the fact that the fate of the championship had been decided, and the Azzurri confirmed the correctness of these statements.
Interesting facts about the new champion of Italy
The current Scudetto was the third in the history of the Neapolitan club. The first two titles were won during the era of the Argentinean Diego Maradona, who shone here from 1984 to 1990. The championship happened in the 1986/87 and 1989/90 seasons, that is, as many as 33 years have passed since the last triumph. The sweeter for the fans is the taste of this victory.
Diego Maradona’s achievements with the Neapolitans have been immortalized in the name of the stadium. The legendary San Paolo, which has been the team’s home ground since 1959, was renamed in honor of the Argentinean in 2020. Today it is Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli can hardly be called a very titled club, especially given its almost century-old history (founded in 1926), but there are enough honorary trophies in its collection:
- champion of Italy – 3;
- winner of the Italian Cup – 6 (last time in 2020);
- winner of the Italian Super Cup – 2 (1990, 2014);
- UEFA Cup winner (1989).
In addition, the team has repeatedly become the winner of Serie A and several times reached the finals of the national cups.
The club’s record holder for the number of matches played is Slovak Marek Gamshik, who played here from 2007 to 2019. He has 519 games to his credit. The status of the top scorer confidently holds the Belgian Dries Mertens. During his performances in Italy, he managed to distinguish himself at the gates of rivals 148 times. In the next few seasons, this record is definitely not threatened by anyone.
The victory of Napoli in the current Serie A automatically makes the club one of the favorites for next season. Of course, staying at the top is always more difficult, especially since top players can leave the club in the summer. It will not be possible to find out about the expectations of on-line bookies until the end of the current tournament, but there is no doubt that the odds for the Napoli championship will be much higher than last year.