Napoli make Inter wait for Serie A glory by thumping Cremonese
Inter could have had a chance to seal their 21st league crown at Torino had Napoli failed to beat Cremonese, who have dropped into the relegation zone following an 18th defeat of a tough campaign.
Napoli's Belgian midfielder #11 Kevin De Bruyne (2nd L) celebrates with Napoli's Brazilian forward #27 Allison Santos (2nd R) and Napoli's Scottish midfielder #8 Scott McTominay (L) after scoring his team third goal during the Italian Serie A football between match SSC Napoli and US Cremonese at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Napoli. AFP PHOTO
Napoli made sure that Inter Milan will have to wait at least another week to win the Serie A title with a thumping win 4-0 over Cremonese on Friday.
With four matches left in their season, the reigning champions trail Inter by nine points after Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne and Alisson rattled goals past sorry Cremonese in Naples. Filippo Terracciano was credited with an own goal for Napoli's second.
Inter could have had a chance to seal their 21st league crown at Torino had Napoli failed to beat Cremonese, who have dropped into the relegation zone following an 18th defeat of a tough campaign.
Regardless Inter need just four points from their final five games to secure the Scudetto.
Napoli might have no realistic chance of retaining the title but Friday's win put them one step closer to qualifying for next season's Champions League.
Antonio Conte's team are 11 points ahead of fifth-placed Como and Roma in sixth, with that pair facing respective trips to Genoa and Bologna this weekend.
Napoli were in the lead with less than three minutes on the clock through a classic McTominay drive which was set up by De Bruyne.
The match was as good as over as a contest when Rasmus Hojlund's deflected effort went in off Terracciano and then De Bruyne struck moments before half-time following slack defending.
Brazilian winger Alisson then made it four shortly after the break with a jinking run and strike at the end of a counter-attack launched by goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.