Champions and top scorers in Serie A in the 2022/2023 season
Like all the major leagues in Europe, apart from the Bundesliga, the title fight in Serie A 2022/2023 was already decided long in advance before the final round was played on Sunday. At the bottom it was more dramatic, and the fact is that it has not been decided yet who all teams are that will be relegated to Serie B. In the top of the top scorer title fight we also find the winner being from Naples.
Luciano-Spalletti - the man calling the shots as Napoli wins Serie A
Napoli outstanding champions in Serie A 2022/2023
As usual, heading into the season, Napoli were one of the contenders to potentially win Serie A but having only managed to do so twice before, during the Diego Maradona era, few really believed they actually would win. That is why it was a bit surprising that Napoli didn't just win the league, they also did it easily and in great style.Napoli were supposed to decide the league as early as round 32 at home against Salernitana and everything was set for big celebrations in Naples. However, Salernitana spoiled the party when Boulaye Dia equalized in the 84th minute for the away team and they only got a 1-1 result in the end, not enough to secure the title. In practice they were already champions as it required Napoli to lose the rest of their matches and Lazio to win them all to be able to catch up, but they had to wait one more round to be considered outright champions. A 1-1 result away to Udinese in the following round was enough to secure the distance to Lazio, and that with five rounds left to play of the season.
Coach Luciano Spalletti thus had won his first Serie A title as a coach, this after he really got the most out of the squad he had at his disposal. The whole team had a brilliant season but the players who are mainly mentioned as the key players in Napoli's success team are of course the top scorer title winner Victor Osimhen (more about this further down) and the Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The defence has also been strong all season and they were also the team that conceded the fewest goals in the league.
Unfortunately for Napoli, despite the success Spalletti created this season, it is already clear that he will leave Napoli as he has decided to take a sabbatical year and to get some rest.
Other teams in the top of the league
In the top behind Napoli, it was tighter, and considerably messier as well. Juventus, who had been caught falsifying transfer fees to improve their finances on paper, were first handed a 15-point deduction in January. They then got their points back after appealing, only to end up losing 10 points again in May. All this made Juventus jump like a yo-yo in the table, from a safe Champions League place and a title contender, to being far awa y from UCL spot and without a chance to win the title, to being on steady ground for a UCL spot again, and then losing the chance again.If you ignore Juventus jumping, it was hard and uncertain which teams would take the Champions League places for a long time, but after round 37 it was decided, which made the excitement low before the last round.
Lazio in the end finished second in the league, which was almost as surprising as Napoli's superior win, followed by the Milano teams Inter and AC Milan, and all these teams will play in Champions League next season. Inter also have a chance to win the Champions League this season too, as they still have the final to play against Manchester City in Istanbul tomorrow.
So, what about Juventus then? Had they not lost 10 points, they would have qualified for the Champions League next season at Milan's expense. Now, unfortunately for Juventus, they must instead focus on playing in the UEFA Conference League as they finished in seventh place.
The relegation battle in Serie A 2022/2023
If the top was settled and undramatic, it was the opposite in the bottom. Ready to be relegated to Serie B were already Cremonese and Sampdoria, and the third and final relegation place were between Spezia and Verona who both had the same points when entering the final round. What is new this season in Serie A is that if two teams end up on the same point, the goal difference does not matter, instead it will be a play-off match that decides which team gets relegated.Both teams had difficult games to play, Spezia faced Roma away and Verona also had an away game against Milan. When there were five minutes left of regular time, the score was 1-1 in both games and it looked like we were heading towards a play-off meeting between the two teams.
However, in the 85th minute, Milan's Rafael Leão scored a 2-1 goal and at that moment Spezia were set to stay in Serie A, but in the first minute of overtime, Roma received a penalty that Paulo Dybala scored. Milan also extended the lead to 3-1 through another goal from Leão, but it was of little importance as both teams eventually lost. Thus, there will be a decisive match between Spezia and Verona on Sunday, which will decide who will survive and who will have to start over in Serie B next season.
Victor Osimhen - number one top scorer in Serie A 2022/2023
Top scorer title winner - Victor Osimhen
Napoli's Nigerian Victor Osimhen was pre-season one of the candidates to win the top scorer title as he had shown his potential the season before by scoring 14 goals, despite missing a lot of games. Therefore, it was hardly a surprise that he had his true breakthrough this season and became the Serie A top scorer.In total, we saw 26 goals from Osimhen, over 33% of all the team's goals, and considering that he is only 24 years old, it is natural that he is sought after player in the transfer market this summer, where Chelsea and Manchester United are the hottest candidates. While Napoli would rather not sell, it is not a wild guess that they will let him go if a big club comes in with a gigantic bid.
Second top scorer was Inter's Argentinian Lautaro Martinez with 21 goals and third was Salernitana's Senegalese Boulaye Dia with 16 goals, and then Milan's new Portuguese star Rafael Leão with 15 goals.
There were no young strikers who made any major breakthroughs in Serie A this season, although 20-year-old Dane Rasmus Højlund in Atalanta scored 9 goals. Højlund also scored 5 goals in two games for Denmark in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Finland and Kazakhstan in March and is considered one of the world's greatest striker talents, so it is not impossible that we will find him significantly higher up in the top scorer list next season.
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