Napoli's title defence is all but over after a flat home loss to Lazio hands Inter a 12-point cushion
For most of the season Napoli had looked like a side that knew how to defend a title. Then Lazio turned up at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Saturday night and played them off their own pitch. The 2-0 defeat was Napoli's first at home in Serie A this season, and it has effectively ended a title defence that already felt as if it was running on fumes.
Matteo Cancellieri settled the game inside six minutes. Toma Basic made it two in the second half. In between, Napoli had 70% possession, and not a single shot on target. Mattia Zaccagni even had a penalty saved by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. A harder evening for Antonio Conte is difficult to imagine.
The gap at the top is now 12 points. Five matches remain. Inter Milan, who beat Cagliari 3-0 on Friday, are within touching distance of a second Serie A title in three seasons. They can be crowned champions as early as next weekend if results break in their favour.
Conte does not bother softening it
Conte is not a manager who does dressing-room diplomacy in public, and he did not try at full time. "We have taken a kick to the teeth today," he told reporters. "This was not a good match from us. We put very little quality in midfield."
He was just as blunt about where it leaves his side. "Tomorrow we rest, and on Monday we must make the most of this experience. If we don't, it would be serious. We need to understand why and put things right."
There was also a line pointed in the direction of club president Aurelio De Laurentiis. "De Laurentiis can say what he wants," Conte said, in response to questions about his future and speculation linking him with the Italy job. "It is the president's problem." That is a coach who has had enough of off-pitch noise, and it is also a coach protecting himself before a summer that now looks very different from the one he might have planned for.
From champions to the Champions League scrap
The Serie A story has flipped quickly. Napoli were still league leaders a few weeks ago, and have now been beaten at home. Inter have been the beneficiaries, and are unbeaten across their recent Serie A matches. A 4-3 comeback win against Como on April 12 was the one that suggested the momentum had shifted, and the 3-0 Cagliari result on Friday was the formality.
For Napoli, the job now is to finish in the top four. That was a sentence you would not have expected to write in March. Lazio have dragged themselves into the fight for Europe, Roma are pushing, and Atalanta and Juventus are in the same conversation. The defeat also dragged Conte's side back into a race that most in Italian football thought they had already transcended.
It is also a reminder that this Napoli, for all the tactical nous and for all the summer investment, is still a side in transition. Scott McTominay has had a superb year, Kevin De Bruyne has added ideas in midfield, but the rebuild from last summer was never going to finish in one campaign.
Inter will worry about that later. For now, they will look at the table, look at the fixtures, and remember that five matches is not a long time to go wrong.
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