To be or further delay; Osimhen’s Napoli seek one point to be crowned Italian champions

In-form striker, Osimhen and his teammates in Napoli suffered yet another delay in their inevitable coronation as Italian champions for the first time in 33 years.

After missing the opportunity to  take the unassailable lead on home ground, following a last minute equaliser in their home game with Salernitana, another opportunity slipped of on Wednesday as second placed Lazio delayed Napoli’s 33-year wait for a Serie A title by at least another day with victory at home to Sassuolo.

Needing to win to keep their ultra-slim hopes alive, Lazio led early through Felipe Anderson before Toma Basic sealed the points in stoppage time.

However, Maurizio Sarri’s side have likely only postponed the inevitable as Napoli require just a point from their final six matches to secure the title.

Their next chance to claim that point comes away to Udinese this  Thursday.

Napoli’s only two previous championship wins came in 1987 and 1990, during Diego Maradona’s time at the club.

Lazio’s win returned them to second place, 15 points behind the leaders with five games to play, after Juventus had leapfrogged them earlier on Wednesday with a 2-1 win at home to Lecce.

Elsewhere in Serie A, Inter Milan boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification with a 6-0 stroll at struggling Verona as both Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez scored twice.

But Inter’s city rivals – and Champions League semi-final opponents next week – AC Milan saw their top-four bid damaged by a 1-1 draw against second-bottom Cremonese that dropped them to sixth.

It could have been worse for Milan, had Junior Messias’ 93rd-minute equaliser not rescued the hosts a point. Atalanta sit between the two Milan clubs in fifth after beating Spezia 3-2.