Napoli will be official champions if they beat Salernitana in the Campania derby (kick-off at 15:00), provided that Lazio Roma - second on 17 points - did not do the same against Inter Milan at San Siro (12:30).

After the victory against Juventus (1-0) Sunday in Turin, new step towards a scudetto that has been promised to them for several months in this almost perfect season, coach Luciano Spalletti had asked to wait "a little" before "blowing the corks and hearts".

But the welcome given to his players in the night by thousands of tifosi already had everything of a "scudetto" party: flags and songs at the airport, then scooters by dozens following the team bus.

In the alleys of the center as in the "Spanish quarters" where the famous fresco of Maradona sits or around the stadium bearing the name of the Argentine idol since his death in November 2020, it has been weeks that fly the flags "champions of Italy" struck with the number 3, as the third title.

A giant pennant thanking Napoli in advance for their third Italian league title, in a district of Naples, April 29, 2023 © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Record to beat

Everything is ready for a majuscule eruption of happiness on Sunday. The authorities preferred to postpone the match, originally scheduled for Saturday, by 24 hours to better channel the hoped-for joy of these impatient tifosi.

If the title is not validated on Sunday, it will still be necessary to wait a few days to see Napoli crowned, either Thursday during the trip to Udine, or May 7 at home against Fiorentina.

But if the planets align on Sunday, Napoli will become the first to mathematically ensure a scudetto so far from the end of the season, six days before the curtain falls. They would do better than the four clubs crowned champions five days ahead: Juventus (2019), Inter Milan (2007), Fiorentina (1956) and Torino (1948).

Taken over in 2004, in the third division, by the film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, Napoli will in any case most likely bring back to the south a league title monopolized for 22 years by three clubs: Juve, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

The trophy has so far eluded clubs from the north only eight times, in the more than century-old history of the championship.

Luciano Spalletti's team, praised for its attacking and enthusiastic play, in the wake of stars Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, can especially join the Maradona generation, victorious of two league titles but also of an Italian Cup (1987) and a UEFA Cup (1989).

Fresco with the effigy of the two star players of Napoli Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen, on March 24, 2023 in the district of Forcella in Naples © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP / Archives

Vesuvius under surveillance

"It's a shame that he is no longer with us" to see this, lamented these days to AFP the former Brazilian midfielder Alemao, 61 years old, member of the team sacred 33 years ago, on April 29, 1990.

Eljif Emas, like all Napoli players, is eager to see the volcano wake up: "I can't imagine what's going to happen in the city," he told Radio Kiss Kiss.

"But for now, only Salernitana counts. It will be a difficult opponent, nobody wants to see a team win the scudetto against them. We must not say that it is a match to be champion, but to put everything to win, the rest will be a consequence, "added the Macedonian midfielder.

The president of Salernitana assured that his team (14th), unbeaten for eight matches, "will not do extras": "We are in shape, we will make the match," promised Danilo Iervolino in the Gazzetta dello Sport.

The volcano Vesuvius near Naples, February 27, 2020 © Ludovic Marin / AFP/Archives

But he also knows the "pressure" that his players will have against this Napoli ready to explode with happiness.

An eruption that will have to avoid excesses: the Authority of the Vesuvius National Park, the famous volcano overlooking the bay, asked supporters to abandon their project, real or not, to celebrate the possible title by lighting smoke at the top of the crater.

© 2023 AFP