Antonio Conte speaks candidly about the Serie A title race

Napoli kicked off their campaign to retain the Serie A crown with a convincing 2-0 win against Sassuolo on Saturday night, thanks to goals from Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne.

Coach Antonio Conte quickly tempered expectations about Napoli’s Scudetto chances, despite the team’s smooth start to defending their Serie A title with a 2-0 win over Sassuolo.

At MAPEI Stadium, Conte witnessed goals from Scott McTominay and newcomer Kevin De Bruyne secure all three points. This result also extended Napoli’s unbeaten streak to 13 matches (8 wins, 5 draws) — the longest run currently in Europe’s top five leagues.

In recent history, only the period from April to November 2022 under Luciano Spalletti saw Napoli achieve a longer unbeaten run of 19 matches.

After the match, Antonio Conte admitted: “It will be very difficult to replicate last year’s championship, as this season 7–8 teams are competing for the Scudetto or Champions League spots. We are working on perfecting the squad structure, and that requires patience.”

Antonio Conte acknowledged he is still searching for the perfect balance in Napoli’s midfield after deploying the quartet of Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne, Stanislav Lobotka, and Frank Anguissa in the match against Sassuolo.

McTominay, the 2024-25 Player of the Season, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a close-range header. This was his 10th Serie A goal in 2025, tying him with Bryan Mbeumo (Man United) as the top-scoring midfielder across Europe’s five major leagues.

Meanwhile, De Bruyne made history by becoming the oldest player at 34 years and 56 days to score on his Serie A debut for Napoli in the 3-points-per-win era (since the 1994-95 season). The Belgian midfielder is also the third player to score on his Serie A debut for Napoli, following Jonathan de Guzman (2014) and Francesco Moriero (1990). Coach Conte shared about the midfielder’s story

“I am still trying to find the formula for last season’s three key midfielders to harmonize well with Kevin. We haven’t had much time working together, but I have seen some positive signs.”

Nonetheless, the 56-year-old coach especially praised McTominay and De Bruyne: “Scott is a warrior, capable of making late runs and striking powerfully. The opening goal was a move we practiced. De Bruyne is different; he prefers to control the ball and rarely enters the penalty area. We try to ensure every zone is covered.”

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