Serie A roundup: Awesome Osimhen scores the goal to confirm Napoli win the title
Udinese 1 Napoli 1
For the first time since 1990, the city of Naples is the home to the Champions of Italy after Napoli drew 1-1 in their away meeting with Udinese to win the Serie A title for the third time in their history.
After a late Salernitana equaliser prevented Napoli from winning the title on Sunday, Luciano Spalletti’s side travelled to the Dacia Arena with the knowledge that a point would be enough to end their wait for the Scudetto.
Like Salernitana, Udinese were keen to spoil the party, and they took advantage of a nervous start from the visitors to take the lead in the 13th minute. Sandi Lovric was given the time and space in the box to fire an unstoppable strike into the top corner.
Victor Osimhen attempted to lead the Napoli response, but he was unable to make the most of two half-chances, sending a header into the clutches of Marco Silvestri before nodding agonisingly wide from Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s lofted cross.
Trailing at half-time of a Serie A away game for the first time this season, Spalletti headed down the tunnel to give a potentially historic team talk.
The Italian’s wise words paid dividends within seven minutes of the restart when Osimhen scored the all-important goal that had been 33 years in the making.
Silvestri palmed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s low shot into the path of the Nigeria international, who kept his composure to calmly guide the ball home, sparking scenes of pandemonium among the 11,000 travelling support and a packed-out Stadio Diego Armando Maradona who were watching history being made on big screens back in Naples.
Piotr Zielinski attempted to make sure of the title, but his driven effort was superbly kept out by Silvestri. As it proved, a winning goal was not forthcoming, but that mattered little to a club and a city that could celebrate a title victory for the first time since the one and only Diego Maradona donned the famous Napoli jersey.
While Andrea Sottil’s side climb up to 12th place, Spalletti obtains his membership to an elite group, joining Ottavio Bianchi and Alberto Bigon as the only three Napoli managers to win the Scudetto.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Victor Osimhen (Napoli)
Empoli 3 Bologna 1
Empoli all but ended Bologna’s dream of qualification for a European competition since the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup with a 3-1 Serie A win at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, moving eight points clear of the relegation zone in the process.
In a rather bizarre start to proceedings, Jhon Lucumi squeezed the ball into his own net as he failed to clear from Fabiano Parisi’s cross, gifting Empoli the lead with just 35 seconds on the clock.
Given they had scored just 26 league goals prior to kick-off this term, a total only Sampdoria had failed to match, it was a welcome opener for the home side, but Thiago Motta’s side were eager to correct their early error.
Shortly after, in fact, the hosts were rescued not once, but twice by VAR. As the visitors found the back of the net on two occasions, both strikes were ruled out for handball in the build-up, the second of which was particularly cruel as Riccardo Orsolini netted an absolute scorcher from around 25 yards.
Despite finding themselves in the ascendancy, however, Bologna conceded a second on the brink of half-time, with Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro directing a pinpoint Razvan Marin free-kick into the bottom corner.
Orsolini led Bologna’s charge with back-to-back chances after the break, but all of his and his teammates’ efforts were ultimately in vain as a quick Azzurri counterattack caught Motta’s backline completely off guard.
Capitalising on a failed midfield pass, Marin started a lightning-quick move which Nicolo Cambiaghi finished by firing into the roof of the net to secure the three points.
Although they showed plenty of attacking threat throughout the encounter, the away team's consolation only arrived courtesy of an 88th-minute penalty, which Orsolini calmly dispatched.
As such, pre-match favourites Bologna succumbed to a fourth straight league game with a win, a run which has put them an almost-insurmountable 13 points adrift of the top six.
Paolo Zanetti’s outfit, meanwhile, roared to a first win in four matches, and are now within touching distance of preserving their top-flight status for another season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Razvan Marin (Empoli)