It’s been three decades and three years since Diego Armando Maradona led Napoli to their previous Serie A title, and the supporters of club will be thinking, it was about time it happened again.
Napoli domination
It happened. Napoli were simply brilliant for a large part of the season and they fully deserved the Scudetto. They were particularly good early on and went into the World Cup break undefeated, with 41 points from the possible 45, and 37 goals scored in 15 Serie A matches played up to that point. They reached a tally of 90 in the end, 16 more than Lazio in second place.
The success of Luciano Spalletti’s team is even more remarkable when put into a bit of perspective, regarding the changes in the playing personnel they made last summer. Some of their long-serving stars, such as Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik, Fabian Ruiz and Kalidou Koulibaly, left the city under the Vesuvius to seek fortune elsewhere, leaving quite enough space for others to come in and take their places.
Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Frank Anguissa, Kim Min-jae, as well as loanees Giovani Simeone, Giacomo Raspadori and Tanguy Ndombele, joined the club and did a marvelous job, along with those who remained from before.
Spalletti never deviated from his 4-3-3 setup, but his players always had a sufficient amount of freedom to drift and swap positions, understanding each other perfectly, and frequently causing all sorts of problems for their opponents. Throw in the individual skill of Kvaratskhelia on the ball, the relentlessness of Osimhen in front of the opposition, the spirit of Stanislav Lobotka, the creativity of Piotr Zielinski, and the sheer defensive quality of Kim, and you have a winning formula.
The Juventus conundrum
It must’ve been a strange feeling for Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri and his players, a proper emotional roller coaster if you will, just to be at the club in 2022/23 and follow the developments regarding the disciplinary proceedings against the club for financial misdemeanor in previous years.
The Bianconeri were initially hit with a 15-point deduction, which had them plummet from a top-four tussle to the lower half of the table. And just as their form improved and they started climbing back up the ladder, the points were restored to their tally after an appeal and they were back near the top. But it had been made perfectly clear that the case was not closed, only sent back for another round of evidence-presenting, before the final verdict was reached.
It ended with another deduction – 10 points this time, and as it happened, quite enough to see them finish seventh with 62 points. After AS Roma lost the Europa League final to Sevilla, Juventus are set to play in the Conference League next term. Those among their supporters who tend to look at things on the bright side will say, better that than nothing, while others perhaps believe the competition could prove an unwanted distraction when they embark on regaining their reputation in the Serie A.
The relegation scramble
For a long time it seemed Cremonese would finish bottom of the table. Davide Ballardini’s team went through the entire first half of the campaign without a single win, losing even to Verona and Sampdoria on the way. But Sampdoria’s demise later proved truly disastrous, and Dejan Stankovic could do nothing but watch his side break into little pieces.
In the end, Sampdoria finished last with just 19 points – a truly pitiful tally. Cremonese didn’t stand much chance to avoid relegation either, and their victory against Salernitana in the final round proved no more than a burst of pride from a condemned side.
As for Verona, they had hope down to the final matchday, and in the end, they finished with the same tally as Spezia. The two sides will now battle it out in a one-game play-off, set to take place at the Stadio Citta del Tricolore, a neutral venue for this game, otherwise the home of Sassuolo.
The three finals
Interestingly enough, the Serie A is the only league in Europe to have had representatives in the finals of all three UEFA competitions this term.
As has been said, Roma were beaten by Sevilla in the Europa League (on penalties), Fiorentina suffered a late heartbreak as they lost 2-1 to West Ham in the Conference League, and Inter Milan are set to face Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday, with the task of stopping Pep Guardiola’s expensive machinery from winning the Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble.
Not many can see the Nerazzurri winning this contest, but Simone Inzaghi will no doubt have his team prepared and tactical ideas worked out.
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