Napoli Are Winter Champions with Two Matchdays to Go

Napoli have conquered the title of Campione d’Inverno thanks to the commanding victory over Sampdoria and Roma staging a late comeback versus Milan. The Partenopei hold a seven-point lead over the Rossoneri and Juventus, which they will face Friday.

Per Goal, it’s the sixth time the Azzurri are top of the league at the midway point of the season. They have won the Scudetto twice when it happened, but not in the most recent instances. They did in 1985/86 when they lifted their first title and in 1989/90 during the Diego Armando Maradona era.

Napoli were ahead in 1986/1987 too, with three points more than Milan and five over Roma. However, the Arrigo Sarri-led side closed the gap and beat them in the head-to-head matchup at the San Paolo, overtaking them.

Maurizio Sarri’s squad was Winter champions twice, but the Scudetto slipped through their fingers in both cases. In 2015/2016, in a balanced season, the Azzurri collected 41 points in the first half of the schedule. Juventus had a terrible start, but they had already started to string together wins. They overtook the Partenopei in February, thanks to a goal by Simone Zaza in the clash in Turin, and never looked back.

The Tuscan gaffer grabbed the symbolic accolade two seasons later as well, in 2017/2018, when the team was a well-oiled machine. They defeated the Bianconeri away late in the campaign, with Kalidou Koulibaly bagging a game-winning header. However, they couldn’t keep up down the stretch and finished second despite collecting 91 points, a current club record.

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