In France, it is 19 points. In Germany, 13. In England, the gap at the top is down to 12, but only because the drama was stripped from the title race when Liverpool won it and proceeded to relax. Meanwhile, Serie A’s status as the most unpredictable of Europe’s major leagues is reinforced by its fantastic, fraught final weekend with the scudetto decided on Friday.
The days when Juventus reeled off seven straight scudetti are long gone. If the crown does not change hands for a fifth successive season now, it will be because of a dramatic turnaround. The reigning champions Inter Milan enter the last night a point behind Napoli, whereas they would have been league leaders but for Pedro Rodriguez’s 90th-minute equaliser for Lazio against them last week.
Napoli drew then, too; if they are held for a third successive time on Friday night, they risk being leapfrogged by Inter. In very different scenarios, with Napoli out of Europe altogether and Inter chasing the Champions League, they have been so evenly matched that they have drawn 1-1 twice with each other this season and both managers, Antonio Conte and Simone Inzaghi, are banned from the touchline after being sent off last week. Now Conte’s Napoli host Cagliari and Inzaghi’s Inter are at home to Como, but with each in the stands.
They have swapped top spot all season. It was advantage Inter until back-to-back defeats to Bologna and Roma in April. Inzaghi’s side have competed on all fronts and risk a trio of near misses: their Treble pursuit ended with a Coppa Italia semi-final defeat to AC Milan.
Their spectacular Champions League semi-final victory over Barcelona was a tie for the ages and a win that underlined that Inter have both the strongest starting 11 and finest squad in Italy.
All of which would render a Napoli scudetto all the more admirable. Historically, too: Inter have won the league 20 times. Napoli had only ever won it twice; now they might double that tally in the space of three seasons, but with a strange arc that would nonetheless form a sequel.
If they finish first, 10th and first again, it would emulate the Chelsea sides of between 2014 and 2017; then their second title came under Conte, in his first season and conjuring a rapid and remarkable recovery after a traumatic year.
There is something Conte-esque about Napoli’s resurgence: the manager who rarely stays anywhere long but often has an immediate impact. Impatient, at times unreasonable, Conte’s image of himself as a winner can be burnished by the facts.
He is one victory away from five scudetti, from winning a league with a fourth different club. If there are plenty of common denominators with Luciano Spalletti’s 2023 champions, arguably their four best players from that side are not in Conte’s current team: indeed, Piotr Zielinski joined Inter last summer. Kim Min Jae went to Bayern the previous year, a disgruntled Victor Osimhen was loaned to Galatasaray in September after Napoli overpriced him and failed to sell him, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was bought by Paris Saint-Germain in January.
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He was not replaced, either, to Conte’s irritation. And yet a manager with incessant demands got his way last summer, spending around £125m in quixotic fashion; much of it on players with a Premier League past. His old ally Romelu Lukaku may have delivered fewer goals than expected, but has compensated with assists. The trump card has been Scott McTominay. Sadly, the “McTomadona” nickname has not really caught on, but, implausible as it sounds, McTominay may follow Diego Maradona in being the most influential player in a Napoli scudetto win. McTominay has the opening goal in seven games; take away his goals and Napoli would have 10 fewer points.
He can be the face of a team: less flamboyant than Spalletti’s entertainers but industrious and effective, constructed around its players’ strengths. It is undeniable it has helped that Napoli are not in Europe; many of Conte’s finest feats have come with more time on the training ground.
Conte has a starting 11. With their greater workload, Inter have had to rely on the squad more. Fourteen players have between five and 20 Serie A starts, whereas Napoli have eight with at least 31. Davide Frattesi has winners for Inter against both Bayern Munich and Barcelona as a substitute this season. If Inter’s bench is required, it may be because of a player who forms a subplot: Como’s 42-year-old goalkeeper Pepe Reina is retiring and, if selected, his last game will come as the title is won or lost.
Probably, anyway. If Napoli and Inter end up level on points, there will be a play-off on Monday. That can only happen if Cagliari, with just three away victories this season, win at Napoli and Cesc Fabregas’s in-form Como hold Inter. It sounds unlikely; as the Serie A season reaches its crescendo, it is more probable that Napoli will be celebrating when the music stops. But late drama has delighted Inter in the Champions League this season. They can hold out hope it will in Serie A, too.
