Napoli lock the second Champions League seat at Pisa, and turn matchday 38 into a four-way fight

Scott McTominay, Amir Rrahmani and Rasmus Hojlund got the goals in Naples's 3-0 at Pisa. The next two Champions League seats now belong to whichever pair from Milan, Roma, Juventus and Como steers the right way on May 24.

May 18, 2026

Napoli took 3-0 at Pisa on Sunday and the only thing on the back wall of the dressing room that mattered was the number next to their name. Antonio Conte's side, second on 73 points, are mathematically in next season's Champions League. The rest of Italy's matchday 37 has left the two remaining seats sitting on the desks of four clubs. Sunday May 24 will decide which two get to keep them.

McTominay, Rrahmani, Højlund, and a job done

Scott McTominay opened it in the 21st minute, a right-footed finish into the far corner from inside the box after Rasmus Højlund laid the ball off. Amir Rrahmani doubled the lead six minutes later, heading in Eljif Elmas's corner at the far post. Højlund completed it in the 90th, finishing left-footed from a Pasquale Mazzocchi cutback. Pisa, already relegated, did not threaten Vanja Milinkovic-Savic's goal in any meaningful way across the afternoon.

The neatness of the win is the point. Conte's side did not need a late header off a set piece or a goal-mouth scramble to find a third. They simply finished a routine afternoon against a side with nothing to play for, and now they board the plane back to Naples with the second Champions League seat in the boot.

Four teams, two seats, one matchday

Inter Milan wrapped up the title earlier this month and Napoli have taken second. That leaves four clubs in line for the last two Champions League places: Milan and Roma on 70, Juventus and Como on 68. The arithmetic is straightforward in two scenarios and tangled in everything in between.

Milan beat Cagliari at San Siro and they are through. Roma win at Verona and they are through too. Beyond that the math turns on draws and head-to-heads. If Milan and Roma both drop points and one of the chasing pair takes three, the seat below them changes hands. If both Milan and Roma draw, both Juventus and Como win, all four would finish on 71, at which point the head-to-head splits become the gatekeeper. In that scenario Milan and Como qualify, Roma and Juventus drop to the Europa League.

Sunday May 24, 20:45 CET, all five matches together

The five fixtures kick off at the same time, Sunday May 24 at 20:45 local. Milan host Cagliari. Roma travel to Verona. Como host Cremonese. Juventus face Torino in the derby, on the road. The simultaneity is doing a lot of work; nobody knows what they actually need until the half-time scoreboards start lighting up.

For Conte and his players the Pisa result removed the stress entirely. For Spalletti's Juventus, for Allegri's Milan, for Gasperini's Roma and for Fabregas's Como, the final ninety minutes will be played with one eye on the pitch and one on a phone in the dugout. That is what late May in Serie A is supposed to feel like, and after Napoli's job at Pisa, it finally does.