Rasmus Hojlund’s 12th league goal of the season secured a second-placed Serie A finish for Napoli as they edged past 10-man Udinese.
The on-loan Manchester United frontman applied an accomplished finish to Kevin de Bruyne’s delicious 24th-minute through-ball to fire Partenopei to a 1-0 win at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, in which Christian Kabasele was sent off, to ensure Antonio Conte’s men could not be caught by AC Milan.
In what speculation has suggested could be Conte’s last game in charge, Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye was called upon for the first time with less than two minutes played to palm away Alisson Santos’ shot.
However, it was opposite number Alex Meret who had to be at his best to keep out Jesper Karlstrom’s well-controlled 14th-minute strike.
Eljif Elmas fired over from distance and Hojlund stabbed a close-range effort at Okoye as the hosts responded, but the Denmark international needed no second invitation when he ran on to De Bruyne’s defence-splitting pass to give Napoli the lead.
Hojlund saw appeals for a penalty waved away after he went down under Kabasele’s challenge, and Arthur Atta tested Meret with a 35th-minute drive from a narrow angle.
A more combative Bianconeri emerged to dominate possession as the second half got under way, but their afternoon took a turn for the worse with 64 minutes gone when Kabasele was dismissed following a VAR review after kicking out at Hojlund.
Scott McTominay blazed wastefully over after running on to Hojlund’s pullback with 18 minutes remaining, but there was no way back for the visitors.
