It’s finally here: Napoli has secured the 2022-23 Serie A title, the third of the club’s 97-year history and the first of the Aurelio De Laurentis era.
Developed and nurtured over the past fifteen seasons, Napoli’s potency up forward was further exploited by Luciano Spalletti, allowing for a more direct approach to an already attack-minded Neapolitan football philosophy. Youth and exuberance fuelled this daring joyride to victory. Whenever the bus was parked in front of them, somebody in a Napoli jersey commandeered it, drove it into the stands fearlessly and left it to burn.
The days of scraping by seem like a distant memory. Napoli’s previous two Scudetti in 1986-87 and 1989-90 were won by three and then two points respectively at the late stages of the championship. Conversely, Spalletti’s side has equalled the league record by clinching the 2022-23 title with five rounds remaining.
It was always meant to be. Destiny wouldn’t have it any other way and the city of Naples, guarded by demi-god San Diego Armando, now embarks on ‘the party of all parties’. Vesuvius will erupt until August. The city of Naples now embarks on ‘the party of all parties’.
The biggest battles were fought on the frontlines north of Campania. Giovanni Lorenzo’s immortals have won fourteen of seventeen away matches, netting 35 precious goals on the road – including Victor Osimhen’s Scudetto-clincher in Udine – at stadia like the San Siro, the Allianz, and the Olimpico.
Back at home, Piazza Plebescito serves as the Mecca of this triumphant occasion. However, it was the travelling Azzurri fans and those afar living in the Napoli diaspora that turned up when it counted most. With that said, it’s only right that Napoli won the Scudetto on the road. That’s where it was ultimately conquered, and here are the five most significant goals of those crusades.
MD5 Lazio vs Napoli, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia
A goal of atonement and proclamation. The young Georgian had already been named the Serie A Player of the Month after scoring three times in August. After creating waves in the Gulf of Naples, Tsunami Kvicha was about to crash down upon the region of Lazio.
Pundits criticised Spalletti and his team after stuttering at home against Lecce. It was glaringly obvious that the squad had to overcome the collective naivety that had held it back in previous years. Nobody was going to roll over for them, especially not former Napoli manager, Maurizio Sarri.
This goal was an undeniable sign of maturity, both individually and collectively. Kvaratskhelia had just missed a sitter with the scores level at 1-1. Instead of frustration, his teammates lifted him by offering encouragement. By now, diplomatic immunity was warranted for Napoli’s signing of the summer.
The second half was in the balance and the Partenopei were in the ascendancy. André Anguissa’s byline cutback drifted invitingly towards the penalty spot as Lazio sat defiantly deep with all angles covered. Nobody tracked Napoli’s number seventy-seven. It would take something special to penetrate through the wall of Biancoceleste. The best option was also the most difficult – straight at the goalkeeper.
Kvara’s strike torpedoed between Sinisa Milinkovic-Savic and Patric as if programmed by an infrared homing missile. Ivan Provedel’s arms flailed hopelessly as the turbulence of the ball agitated past his right glove and into the net. Usually, the best goals are hit gloriously into the top corner, but this was all about choosing the best path to goal. The curl took it through the two defenders, then away from the goalkeeper as if a lower-order batsman had been bamboozled by a Jimmy Anderson outswinger.
Up go the bails as Provedel’s off-stump cartwheels into the Curva Sud.
Napoli held on for a 1-2 come-from-behind victory, a symbolic step on the pathway to redemption. The Azzurri were expelling the demons of the past in real-time by bringing down sacrilegious Mister Sarri on his own patch. He’d taken Napoli to the brink in 2018 before being drowned by arch-rival Juventus only to deliver the latter another title in 2020.
More than just another win, it was also the first real acid test for Napoli away from home. Reinvigorated following two dull draws, they’d leaped into joint-second place with Milan. The Rossoneri had defeated Inter 3-2 that weekend to strengthen their title defence, setting up a blockbuster in the weeks to follow.
MD7 Milan vs Napoli, Geovanni Simeone
The goal that brought down the AC Milan pack of cards. Spalletti returned to his former workplace in pursuit of spoiling Milan’s eleven-game unbeaten streak at home. Victor Osimhen was unavailable after suffering an injury in the Champions League.
Neither side had been able to win at home in four previous head-to-heads. It was a match between Serie A’s joint-leaders, a Capolista six-pointer, and Napoli had taken the lead against the run of play through Politano’s second-half spot-kick.
Spalletti began to focus on game management. Following his stunning performance against Rangers, Geovanni Simeone was called upon to see out the remaining twenty-five minutes. However, Olivier Giroud’s leveller arrived swiftly courtesy of a Theo Hernandez cutback as an intransigent Milan threatened to squeeze the life out of Napoli’s game.
What happened next was proof that Napoli had mastered the mechanics of digesting pressure to excrete a goal whenever they needed it most. With Pioli’s low block governing the box and three defenders hot on Simeone’s tail, he transferred the ball to Mario Rui who was positioned deep on the left.
Searching for space between the lines, El Cholito’s instinctual run back into the penalty box triggered Rui’s pinpoint delivery. The Argentine beat Mike Maignan with a gorgeous glancing header – arguably the Partenopei’s most effective since Andrea Carnevale put his past Milan’s Giovanni Galli in October 1989.
Napoli held on. The inspired synergy between Rui and Simeone had one-upped Milan’s French pair, serving as evidence that the Napoli machine was greater than the sum of its parts. Pressure is a privilege, it means things are expected of you. Napoli had ended Milan’s 22-game unbeaten streak, a shot across the bow of the defending champion, an early indication that the paradigm shift was imminent despite all of Napoli’s summer turmoil.
Spalletti dipped his toes in the deep end and emerged as a genuine contender to win his first piece of Serie A silverware.
MD11 Roma vs Napoli, Victor Osimhen
This is one for the Channel 4 Football Italia purists – a goal that combines the ruthless finishing of Gabriel Batistuta and the blunt force trauma of Faustino Asprilla’s right boot.
Victor Osimhen laid siege to Roma’s goal on more than one occasion this season. Arguably, his chest-knee-volley combination at home on Matchday 20 was his best strike of the season, however, the 80th-minute winner at the Stadio Olimpico in October holds much more significance. A goalless stalemate seemed likely as Jose Mourinho persisted with his customary mundane low-block counter-attacking structure. With ten minutes to go, Politano improvised with an adventurous pass on the right flank.
Finally, Osimhen was permitted to attack the space deep in behind the rarely isolated Chris Smalling. Like an apex predator, Pulcinella hunted down the Englishman from behind, wrestled his way goal side, and unleashed a ferocious volley from the tightest of angles. There was no other choice but to stalk the bouncing ball and thump it hard enough to trigger a lucky deflection off the goalkeeper. In it went, clean and untouched. 0-1 Napoli.
In Rui Patricio’s defence, no shot-stopper could ever make themselves big enough. The Roma goalie was brought to his knees flapping at thin air as Napoli’s record-signing delivered the killer blow. The execution was a fitting tribute to the 1989-90 Scudetto-winning number nine, Careca, who’d uncannily scored from a similar angle against Roma to assist Alberto Bigon’s winning side to the second title.
With another victory at the Olimpico, the statement of intent had been delivered to Capital City first-hand and it was presented unmediated by Spalletti himself. Rome had fallen again.
Following a lengthy injury layoff, Osimhen had returned to lead the sky blue battalion with an instinctual finish – his first goal of the season against a direct scudetto-rival – to cultivate a devastating five-game goalscoring streak that harvested seven of the best. More importantly, Napoli extended its lead to three points over defending champion, Milan. Osimhen exalted rank to skip past Rafael Leao and Lautaro Martinez, metamorphosing into Serie A’s most feared attacker.
It was official – Napoli was formidable and everybody knew it. This was their third big scalp of the season, and all away from home.
There have been few finer strikers in Europe this season. Osimhen reestablished himself as Spalletti’s headline star in the penalty box, leading the way with 23 league goals at the time of writing, and 5 more in the Champions League. Netting at home and on the road against Roma and Sassuolo, Osimhen has been dubbed “the serial killer”, a new addition to the calcio vernacular. Local bakers have even made a chocolate cake with blond frosting in his honour.
Further endorsing himself as the City’s spiritual leader on and off the pitch, the centre-forward realised his first hat trick on Matchday 12, becoming the only Napoli player to do so since Dries Mertens in 2018.
The Neapolitan hierarchy of deities has since been revised to include Humble Victor. With three braces this season to boot, one of which helped sink Juventus 5-1 in February, the prodigious Nigerian joins Diego Maradona as one of only two players to spearhead Napoli to a title as the leading goalscorer.
MD23 Sassuolo v Napoli, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia
Composing his finest masterpiece of the season, Kvaravaggio’s inspired solo goal encompasses flair, finesse and pure genius.
By now, anyone had seen the Kvaratskhelia highlights reel, but this goal smashes that videotape to pieces. With Napoli in transition, the Georgian Messi picked up the ball at half-way. Like a budding young artist, Kvaratskhelia expressed himself beautifully, repurposing the pitch as his canvas. His first touch around Maxime Lopez was as exquisite as it was spontaneous. The way he skipped over Armande Laurienté accelerated the inevitable, yet it felt like slow-motion.
Channeling a certain 1980s Napoli playmaker, Kvaradona exemplified the art of deception, fooling Ruan into chasing shadows and nutmegging Martin Erlic to pick out the bottom corner. It was clean and surgical, yet it felt like he’d ripped out the hearts of every Neroverdi defender with his bare hands.
This was a telling contribution that set the tone for the remainder of the season. The entirety of the Mapei Stadium was on their feet in awe of Napoli’s breakout star. No longer just Lorenzo Insigne’s replacement, he helped extend the lead at the summit to fifteen points – the seventh straight victory in a run of eight. It was also his third consecutive opening goal.
The plaudits kept coming for Calcio’s brilliant revolutionary with another Serie A Player of the Month award for Che Kvara – a soubriquet that’s been warranted for some time. Two weeks later he terrorised Atalanta with another solo wondergoal at the Maradona, distinguishing himself as the first player since 2006-07 to reach double figures for goals and assists in a debut season in a top European league.
Naples has remained an open-air shrine of past Partenopei idols since 1987. It takes a special player to curtail the prestige of Cavani, Insigne, and Mertens. Kvaradona’s image will inexorably decorate the streets of the Spanish Quarter for decades to come.
MD31 Juventus vs Napoli, Giacomo Raspadori
“Karmaic, dramatic and therapeutic” are the best words to describe this goal from a Napoli-fan perspective. Giac Raspadori’s last-minute winner served as the perfect way to obliterate the nightmares of 2018’s failure to launch.
“Same result, same minute, different ending,” is how the club described it post-match. Five years and one day previously, Kalidou Koulibaly won this fixture with his 93rd-minute header which carried Sarri’s Napoli to within a point of eventual Scudetto-winner, Juventus.
In the post-mortem, Sarri stated that Napoli “lost the title in their hotel”. He’d found his players emotionally wrecked after they’d seen the contentious refereeing decisions during the Inter-Juventus match a week later.
The Azzurri hadn’t won at the Allianz Stadium since and victory for Spalletti meant that the Scudetto was a formality. Always the groomsman and never the groom, this time the heartbreak had to transcend into joy. Perhaps Diego himself, a devout Juve-hater, couldn’t have written the script any better.
Controversy reigned as Juventus had two goals disallowed in the final ten minutes. With the score at nil-nil, Juan Cuadrado’s claims for a penalty were overlooked and the emboldened Colombian remained glued to Alex Meret’s penalty area. History would be repeated and another 93rd-minute stunner beckoned. Three substitutes conspired to procure Napoli’s first win in Turin since 2018. Piotr Zielinski opened up space for Eljif Elmas to stand up the perfectly weighted cross to the back post.
With Cuadrado stubbornly out of position, Raspadori extended Napoli’s lead over second place to seventeen points with seven rounds to go. He’d drilled his volley through Szczęsny’s legs to bury the winner, poking a gargantuan stick into the spokes of the chasing peloton that included Inter, Lazio and Milan.
Inspired by the former glory of Gianfranco Zola’s last-gasp winner against Genoa, the euphoria had overcome Zielinski. Along with Mario Rui, the Pole is one of two remaining members of the unlucky 2017-18 squad. He’d collapsed onto the pitch aware that this time it was really happening.
The goal was tantamount to Andrea Carnevale’s of 1986-87 and Marco Baroni’s of 1989-90. Napoli effectively clinched those titles at home but this time it was in faraway, hostile territories.
Zielinski instantly comprehended the gargantuan importance of this milestone goal. Decades of managing expectations have been eclipsed by a squad filled with wild cards and wow factors. Best described as “Jack-in-the-box” by the Serie A commentary team, Raspadori’s added-time volley was just as much a surprise as Napoli’s third league title.
Who knew that poetic justice was also meant for smaller clubs? The significance of this Scudetto triumph is profound. Napoli now possessed maturity, a greater resolve, and outstanding depth. Yes, there were brilliant individual performances, there always have been since De Laurentis took over.
The collective structure that Spalletti brought to Naples has proved decisive. Not only had he threshed out the players that withheld progression, he also identified and attracted players that shared the same mindset and had something to prove.
Effectively, Spalletti has genetically modified Napoli’s DNA, sowing seeds of unity and dynamism. Players, staff, and fans are reaping epic benefits that previously had not been felt for over a generation. Better late than never, right?
We can learn through hindsight. Koulibaly, Insigne, Ospina, Ruiz and Mertens departed last summer. Pundits and commentators – myself included – thought a top-four finish was out of reach. On the contrary, they dominated the season and won hearts with an exciting brand of football.
Aurelio De Laurentis rebuilt it and they came. His digital age reincarnation of Napoli is now a global obsession that abandons the pernicious catenaccio stigmas still attached to Italian football while alluring fans that would otherwise be hypnotised by the Premier League and La Liga giants.
Thematically, Neápolis translates to ‘New City’. Perhaps this is officially the Aurelio De Laurentis (A.D.) resurrection following his purchase of SSC Napoli at auction twenty years. The end of the beginning? Is there a possible dynasty in the making? That depends on what sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli is instructed to do as the big offers arrive in his inbox. Napoli fans will pray he remorselessly hits the delete key.
Freed of sectarian delirium and a hyperfocused media, Napoli best performed away from the Stadio Maradona, as if the players symbolically lifted the veil of Diego’s omnipresence to discover a fresh identity and own their authority. If anything, we’ve learned that the secret to Serie A success is consistency. The supreme efforts of the first half of the campaign should never be forgotten as Napoli remained unbeaten until January.
They say the Scudetto is won in the provinces but this title was won on the road in Italy’s biggest cities and in prime time.
Siamo campioni d’Italia. Forza Napoli Sempre.