Napoli wins 1st title since Maradona played for the club

ROME: Napoli won its first Italian soccer league title since the days when Diego Maradona played for the club, sealing the trophy with a 1-1 draw at Udinese on Thursday. The “scudetto” (championship) set off wild scenes of celebrations throughout Naples, inside the stadium in Udine and beyond. Maradona led Napoli to its only previous Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.

League scoring leader Victor Osimhen equalized for Napoli early in the second half by redirecting in a rebound after Sandi Lovric had put Udinese ahead early on. Napoli moved an insurmountable 16 points ahead of second-place Lazio with five matches still to play. When Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Kalidou Koulibaly left Napoli after several years of near misses, many thought the likelihood of a first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona went out the door with them.

Little did they know that an unknown winger from Georgia and a not-so famous striker from Nigeria were going to pick up the pieces and lead the team right to the top. Sure, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen had plenty of help. But there’s no question that those two were the key elements that helped Napoli clinch the title on Wednesday following a 1-1 draw with Udinese.

It’s Napoli’s first Sere A title since Maradona led the club to its only two championships in 1987 and 1990. Not much was expected when Napoli brought in the 22-year-old Kvaratskhelia to replace Insigne on the left wing. But the dribbling specialist scored his first goal for the club only 37 minutes into his Serie A debut back in August.