Napoli 2-0 Cagliari: McTominay and Lukaku lead Conte's team to Serie A title

Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku led Napoli to the Serie A title as their goals sealed a 2-0 win over Cagliari in Naples on Friday.

Antonio Conte's team knew that a victory would be enough to clinch the Scudetto after starting the table a point ahead of Inter, who faced Como on the same day.

And despite the Champions League finalists registering a 2-0 win at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia over their 10-man opponents, Napoli did the business on home turf.

It saw Napoli crowned champions of Italy for the fourth time, while Conte lifted his fifth Serie A title in his debut season in charge of the Partenopei.

The hosts started strongly in the contest, with Giacomo Raspadori firing wide early on before Lukaku saw his goal-bound effort blocked by the legs of Yerry Mina.

Antoine Makoumbou then survived a VAR check for a potential red card for his involvement in a coming-together between both sets of players.

And as the news of Inter's opening goal broke, the tension grew inside the stadium, though that was quickly extinguished by one of their star men in the 42nd minute.

Matteo Politano collected the ball on the right-hand side and delivered a dangerous ball into the box which was met by McTominay, who sent an acrobatic volley into the net.

8 - In addition to being the player who has scored the most goals in 0-0 situations (eight), Scott McTominay is the overall best scorer among midfielders in this #SerieA championship (12). Crucial.#NapoliCagliari pic.twitter.com/u1LC87oPCN
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) May 23, 2025

But following McTominay's stunning opening goal, Lukaku went one better with a fine individual effort to put Napoli on course for the Scudetto six minutes after the restart.

Amir Rrahmani's long ball forward saw Lukaku give chase, with the Belgian holding off the challenges of Michel Adopo and Mina before stroking the ball home.

David Neres almost made an instant impact two minutes after his introduction, but saw his strike from close range thwarted by visiting goalkeeper Alen Sherri.

Cagliari threatened a nervy finish in second-half stoppage time through Alessandro Deiola, but Alex Meret held on to his effort as Napoli held on for the victory they needed.

Data Debrief: Conte completes Napoli turnaround

Having endured a miserable 2023-24 campaign, Napoli appointed Conte in a quest to become title challengers again, and the Italian certainly delivered this season.

Indeed, Conte is the second coach to win the Scudetto in his debut season as Napoli manager, after Alberto Bigon in 1989-90, and with it came history.

Napoli became the first team in the history of the 20-team Serie A to win the Scudetto after finishing 10th in the previous season, bettering the record set by Conte's Juventus in 2011-12, who finished seventh the year before.

10th ---> 1st - Napoli set a new record in the history of the 20-team #SerieA: no team had ever won the title by finishing the previous championship in 10th place. Climb.#NapoliCagliari pic.twitter.com/9sQZVNRw0o
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) May 23, 2025

Napoli won the title by collecting 82 points in Serie A. In the three points for a win era, that is the lowest tally at the end of a season by the champions of the Italian top-flight in a 20-team campaign, a record they share with Inter in 2009-10 and AC Milan in 2010-11.

And their title-winning victory was started by McTominay, who registered his 16th goal involvement (12 goals, four assists) this campaign. Indeed, only Hernanes in 2010-11 (16) has been involved in as many goals in their first season in the Italian top-flight in the last 20 years.