Juventus couldn’t help but point out their recent dominance of the Serie A title when congratulating Napoli for their 2022-23 Scudetto success.
A point against Udinese proved enough to secure their status as Champions of Italy for the third time, 33 years after the most recent triumph with Diego Armando Maradona in 1990.
Congratulatory tweets came in from all the other Serie A clubs, but all eyes were on the message from their arch-rivals Juventus, who were beaten 5-1 in Naples and 1-0 in Turin this season.
“Considering all the compliments we received from you in recent years, we could not shy away from doing the same,” wrote the Bianconeri’s official account.
“Congratulations to Napoli for the achievement of your third Scudetto!”
Juventus had dominated the league over the last decade, winning nine consecutive titles before that hegemony was broken by Inter and then Milan.
Inevitably, the message was not greeted kindly by Napoli supporters, including one who promised to congratulate Juve on ‘promotion to Serie A next season,’ assuming they will be demoted for financial irregularities.
Napoli are the first Champions of Italy to be from outside these big three clubs since Roma in 2001.
The Partenopei won the Scudetto for the first time in 1986-87 straight after the arrival of Maradona, then again in 1989-90.