Napoli wins first Serie A title since Maradona played for the club

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen scored the decisive goal in a 52nd-minute equaliser by redirecting in a rebound after Sandi Lovric had put Udinese ahead early on.

Napoli held on to the point they needed to win their third Serie A title after 33 years with five matches still to play.

News agency AFP reported that not only 11,000 Napoli fans watched the match sitting inside the Udine stadium in northern Italy, but more than 5,000 fans who did not get the match tickets to enter the stadium watched the same from outside the stadium. 

Another over 50,000 spectators watched the match on jumbo screens at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, the agency reported.

“You always told me, ‘We want to win,’ and now we’ve won. We’ve won all together,” Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said before embracing Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi.

De Laurentiis took over the club in 2004 when Napoli was declared bankrupt, restarting in the third division.

“This is the coronation of a dream that’s been going on for 33 years,” De Laurentiis added. “It’s been a long process.”

In the 52nd minute, Osimhen slotted in a rebound off a shot from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia following a corner kick.

It was Osimhen’s 22nd goal in the league this season and the 46th of his Serie A career, matching former AC Milan standout and current Liberia President George Weah as the top African scorers in Italy.

Napoli has dominated all season and didn’t lose in the league until getting beat by Inter in January. A 5-1 victory over Juventus nine days later left no doubt that this was the Partenopei’s year.

Luciano Spalletti, who twice won the Coppa Italia with Roma, becomes the oldest manager to win Serie A.

Spalletti, and his squad will surely receive an emotional welcome when they return to Naples, where the partying is set to continue to until at least their next home fixture against Fiorentina on Sunday evening.