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Napoli win first Serie A title for 33 years after Osimhen earns 1-1 draw at Udinese.
With five games remaining in their exceptional 2022–23 season, Napoli has won the Serie A title for the first time since Diego Maradona guided them to the Scudetto in 1989–1990.
This season, Luciano Spalletti’s squad dominated the competition in Italy, losing just one of their first 24 league games while accruing an astounding 65 out of a possible 72 points.
Since the scudetto had already become a matter of when rather than if, Napoli’s commanding lead ensured that a slightly shaky stretch of form since early March has mattered little.
Even though Napoli has lost more points in their past nine league games than they had in the previous 24, it didn’t matter on Thursday night since all they needed was a point against Udinese to mathematically guarantee that Lazio and Juventus couldn’t catch them.
It got off to a frightening start when Sandi Lovric gave Udinese an early lead with only 13 minutes remaining after being held to a stalemate by Salernitana the last time out. Victor Osimhen’s equalizer in the first moments of the second half—his 22nd goal in Serie A this season—brought glory.
Maradona famously inspired Napoli to Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990. The club fell on hard times in the late 1990s and wound up in Serie C1 in 2004 after declaring bankruptcy. But they have been a top-flight club ever since returning to Serie A in 2007.
There have been several near misses, finishing second behind Juventus on four occasions in 2012/13, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2018/19. But Napoli are finally champions of Italy again.