How the reunion of Romelu Lukaku and Antonio Conte served as a significant driving factor in Napoli’s fourth scudetto | OneFootball

With Antonio Conte having underwent a chaotic transfer market upon his arrival in which Nigerian super-star Victor Osimhen urgently seeked to depart Napoli as he had no intention of taking part of the Partenopei’s campaign, The former and Inter coach turned towards his long-trusted deputy Romelu Lukaku after their scintillating two years with the Nerazzurri in which they ended the 12-year scudetto drought.

Despite Lukaku having been four years older since the pair clinched Inter’s 19th league title together in the 2020-21 campaign, as well as coming off of three consecutive underwhelming seasons with Chelsea and loan spells at Inter and Roma respectively, the Italian tactician had a an in-depth understanding of the Belgian forward’s skill-set and had no doubts that he would be able to rejuvenate and fully extract the 32-year-old’s abilities, fully ignoring the critics of Lukaku being labelled as a downgrade in comparison to Osimhen.

Within the Belgian marksman’s debut off the bench against Parma at the Stadio Maradonna whilst being down 1-0 with less than half an hour remaining, the former Inter and Roma player wasted no time to make his mark on Neapolitan soil, striking the equalizer in the 91st minute and inspiring a 2-1 comeback win against the Gialloblu.

From then on, Lukaku proved to be the main focal point of the Azzurri attack, serving as a leader within Conte’s squad he fully embodied Conte’s winning mentality, allowing that sensation to resonate within the squad. His remarkable link-up ability and prolific goal-scoring capabilities in front of goal were in full display, constantly playing a pivotal role in helping the Partenopei break-out of difficult dead-locks.

Even with the departure of Kvicha Kvaratskehlia forcing Conte to adjust from a 4-3-3 to deploying a 3-5-2, Lukaku showed no signs of slowing down and fit seamlessly along-side former Sassuolo man Giacomo Raspadori, serving as the key distributor to the Italian forward.

Throughout the season, the Belgian international tallied 14 goals and 10 assists in 36-games played under Conte, consistently rising to the occasion in significant fixtures against Roma, Milan in both reverse fixtures, Juventus, and Atalanta.

And of course, the full genius and mastery behind the pairing of Conte and Lukaku was fully portrayed when it mattered most against Cagliari, as the Belgian pulverized his a great deal of strength and virtuosity through the Rossoblu back-line and buried the ball in the far low-corner with immense flair and panache to secure the Partenopei’s second title in three seasons.

Lukaku doubling Napoli’s lead and an emotional embrace between both the 32-year-old and the Italian tactician were scenes that spoke a thousand words and simply poetic, as the two reunited to lead Napoli to their fourth scudetto and are forever engraved in stone within the history of the club.

Furthermore, the Belgian international serving as the main catalyst in providing Coach Antonio Conte with his fifth scudetto in six Serie A seasons, as well as making him the only coach to ever win the league-title with three different clubs: Juventus, Inter and Napoli.

Julian Faustini Ι GIFN