Antonio Conte says that Napoli have ‘put a bit of pressure on the teams at the top’ after their 1-0 victory away against Cagliari in Serie A on Friday evening, their fourth win in as many matches, which has temporarily sent them above Milan and into second place in the league table. 

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A goal from Scott McTominay after just over a minute was enough for the Partenopei to hold onto at the Unipol Domus, as Conte’s side prevented their hosts from having any shots on target across the 90 minutes. 

This was also the first clean sheet that Napoli have managed to keep in 11 matches. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Conte reviews Napoli’s 1-0 victory over Cagliari: ‘Nobody should stop us from looking ahead’

Despite their victory, Conte feels that there is still room for improvement in terms of Napoli’s performance. He feels that getting key players like McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka back to ‘100%’ will be key, though. 

“We made too many mistakes. We could have done better and commanded the game more given that Cagliari didn’t come to press,” Conte told DAZN after full-time. 

“We looked for the second goal in the second half, anything can happen in these sorts of games. Now we go into the (international) break with three points, waiting on the others.

“Three points further into the Champions League spots, we’ve been extraordinary over the last seven months to stay in the top positions. We’re looking at those in front of us, but we’re not making any empty promises. It doesn’t take much to get dragged back by those behind us.” 

Before Friday, Napoli had not kept a clean sheet in any competition since their 2-0 win away against Lazio on January 4, their first game of the calendar year. 

“It’s important to record a clean sheet after 11 games,” said Conte. “Cagliari didn’t have a shot on goal today. Being able to defend well requires everyone. There was great application and desire. The guys understood the importance of the match, even if we struggled to materialise that.” 

Napoli’s defence of their 2024-25 Scudetto was completely obliterated by injuries. At certain stages, Conte had a full starting XI unavailable through injury. But, today, De Bruyne and McTominay were able to start alongside each other for the first time in almost five months, dating back to a 3-1 win over Inter back in October .

“Obviously having some players back is important, but what counts is them being at 100%,” Conte explained. 

“Anguissa and McTominay aren’t ‘brilliant’ again yet, Kevin (De Bruyne) I thought was doing well. Lobotka struggled a little bit more, and we still have to get Rrahmani and Di Lorenzo back. Neres is difficult, I think. 

“We’ve held our own over the last seven months, now we have to qualify for the Champions League, but we know that other teams want that too. Nobody should stop us from looking ahead. Today we’ve put a bit of pressure on the teams at the top.” 

Cagliari fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Napoli this evening, with Scott McTominay scoring the only goal in Sardinia as Antonio Conte’s side picked up a valuable three points.

Football Italia’s Man of the Match was McTominay, for his early winner and hard-working performance throughout.

Cagliari 0-1 Napoli – Player Ratings

Cagliari: Caprile 6; Ze Pedro 5.5 (Mendy 6), Mina 6, Dossena 6; Palestra 6, Adopo 5.5 (Deiola 6), Gaetano 6, Sulemana 6, Rodriguez 5 (Raterink N/A); Esposito 6 (Trepy N/A), Folorunsho 6 (Kilicsoy 5.5)

Best Cagliari player: Yerry Mina – Still an average night at the office for the menacing centre-back, but did a good enough to job to keep Napoli at bay for lengths of the match.

Lowest Cagliari rating: Juan Rodriguez – Really struggled to have any impact whatsoever on the left flank and was as worrying in defence as he was going forwards.

Coach: Fabio Pisacane 6 – Gave it a good go and set up his team fairly well to nullify Napoli’s threat. Was unlucky to get caught out early as the team looked solid for most of the match.

Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic 6; Beukema 6.5, Buongiorno 6, Olivera 5.5 (Juan Jesus N/A); Politano 6.5, (Spinazzola N/A), Gilmour 5.5 (Zambo Anguissa N/A), Lobotka 6 (Alisson Santos 6), Gutierrez 6.5; McTominay 7, De Bruyne 6; Hojlund 6

Best Napoli player: Scott McTominay – Scored the decisive goal and worked hard throughout the ninety minutes. Hardly a show-stopping performance but was the best amongst a very modestly performing Napoli side.

Lowest Napoli rating: Mathias Olivera – Played at centre-back, outside of his natural positioning, and struggled as a result. Made a couple of sloppy fouls, picked up a yellow card and overall contributed nothing of particular value to his team’s victory.

Coach: Antonio Conte 6.5 – Marginally better than his counterpart, and picked up the three points accordingly. His side did not inspire with their victory but the coach will be delighted to come away with the three points.

An early strike from Scott McTominay was enough for Napoli to hold onto as Antonio Conte and his team picked up a 1-0 victory away against Cagliari in Serie A on Friday evening; their fourth win on the spin and a result that has sent them into second place in the league table.

McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne were able to start alongside each other for the first time in almost five months, dating back to a 3-1 victory over league leaders Inter in October. The 15th-placed Cagliari boasted two recently called-up Italy internationals in Elia Caprile and Marco Palestra. Napoli had four in their camp: Alex Meret, Alessandro Buongiorno, Leonardo Spinazzola and Matteo Politano. 

Antonio Conte’s side had won all three of their previous Serie A matches heading into tonight’s game, all by 2-1 margins, while the hosts were without a win across their last six. 

Click here to see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog. 

It took just over 60 seconds for McTominay to find the net on his return to the starting line-up. The Scotland international got his side ahead from the first corner of the game, which went short to Politano and pinballed around the area before the Scotland international managed to tap in on the goalline. 

From there, the first half became a fairly evenly contested, albeit slightly scrappy affair. Conte was twice visibly annoyed by misplaced passes from Buongiorno and Gilmour out of the back, giving possession away far too cheaply.

Napoli’s only other shot on target of the first half came from a fairly tame Politano free-kick, while Cagliari came closest through Sebastiano Esposito, who flashed an effort across the face of Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s goal from a tight angle. 

De Bruyne almost got the better of Caprile with a low, driven effort from the edge of the area, but the recently called-up Italy international was able to parry and his defenders were able to clear in the end. 

Napoli saw a glimpse of what their star players are capable of when McTominay, De Bruyne and Politano linked up with some beautiful one-touch play in the Cagliari area, but Caprile did well to smother his compatriot when he found himself on the edge of the six-yard box.

Cagliari have not won any of their games this season when they have been trailing half-way, and that proved to be the case again despite their best efforts on Friday evening. 

Fabio Piscane’s winless run has now been extended to seven matches, with just two points earned over that period, while Conte and his team have now won four in a row and currently find themselves in second place in the league table with Milan due to play on Saturday.

Cagliari 0-1 Napoli 

McTominay 2’

20-03-2026 17:30

MatchDay 30

Unipol Domus (Sardegna Arena)

Cagliari

Napoli

0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

		2'		Scott McTominay
		17'		Stanislav Lobotka
Zé Pedro		35'

2nd half

		69'		Mathías Olivera
Alberto Dossena		90+4'

Match statistic

33

Possession %

67

7

Total shots

17

Shots on target

5

7

Shots off target

4

Blocked shots

8

2

Corners

7

Offsides

2

12

Fouls

16

Cagliari

Napoli

Starting lineups

1

Elia Caprile

Goalkeeper

22

Alberto Dossena

Defender

15

Juan Rodríguez

Defender

84'

2

Marco Palestra

Defender

26

Yerry Mina

Defender

32

Zé Pedro

Defender

73'

10

Gianluca Gaetano

Midfielder

90

Michael Folorunsho

Midfielder

65'

8

Michel Adopo

Midfielder

73'

25

Ibrahim Sulemana

Midfielder

94

Sebastiano Esposito

Attacker

84'

32

Vanja Milinković-Savić

Goalkeeper

4

Alessandro Buongiorno

Defender

17

Mathías Olivera

Defender

84'

3

Miguel Gutiérrez

Defender

31

Sam Beukema

Defender

6

Billy Gilmour

Midfielder

77'

11

Kevin De Bruyne

Midfielder

8

Scott McTominay

Midfielder

68

Stanislav Lobotka

Midfielder

55'

21

Matteo Politano

Attacker

76'

19

Rasmus Højlund

Attacker

Substitutes

30

Leonardo Pavoletti

Attacker

28

Gabriele Zappa

Defender

4

Luca Mazzitelli

Midfielder

24

Giuseppe Ciocci

Goalkeeper

12

Alen Sherri

Goalkeeper

27

Joseph Liteta

Midfielder

36

Nicola Grandu

Midfielder

20

Agustín Albarracín

Midfielder

9

Semih Kılıçsoy

Attacker

65'

14

Alessandro Deiola

Midfielder

73'

31

Paul Mendy

Attacker

73'

37

Yael Trepy

Attacker

84'

18

Othniel Raterink

Midfielder

84'

1

Alex Meret

Goalkeeper

20

Eljif Elmas

Midfielder

14

Nikita Contini

Goalkeeper

30

Pasquale Mazzocchi

Defender

9

Romelu Lukaku

Attacker

23

Giovane

Attacker

23

Giovane Nascimento

Attacker

27

Alisson Santos

Attacker

55'

37

Leonardo Spinazzola

Defender

76'

99

Frank Anguissa

Midfielder

77'

5

Juan Jesus

Defender

84'

Gennaro Gattuso has named his Italy national team squad for the World Cup play-off campaign coming up at the end of March and has included three uncapped players among his selections.

Which uncapped players are in Gattuso’s latest Italy squad?

Gattuso has called up a squad of 28 players for the World Cup play-off semi-final against Northern Ireland in Bergamo coming up on March 26. The winner of that tie will go on to face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home in the play-off final on March 31: A one-match decider for a spot at the final World Cup tournament. 

Given the importance of the occasion, Gattuso has understandably decided to stick with a core of trusted and experienced players.

The likes of Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Federico Dimarco, Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Barella are expected to start against Northern Ireland. There has also been a return to the squad for Federico Chiesa for the first time since EURO 2024. 

Only three of the 28 players called up have not previously played for Italy. Two of them are goalkeepers in Marco Carnesecchi and Elia Caprile, neither of whom have yet been given an opportunity over Gianluigi Donnarumma or Guglielmo Vicario. 

Cagliari right-back Marco Palestra, on loan from Atalanta, is the only uncapped outfield player to be selected in the latest Italy squad. The 21-year-old has impressed in his first real breakthrough season at Serie A level, and is also included in the Cagliari starting line-up to take on Napoli on Friday evening. 

You can see follow the action from Cagliari vs. Napoli on the Football Italia Liveblog.

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Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne finally start alongside each other in the Napoli midfield again as Antonio Conte’s side prepare to take on Cagliari away from home in Serie A on Friday evening. 

Napoli have won their last three matches in succession heading into Friday night’s tie, all by 2-1 margins against Hellas Verona, Torino and Lecce.

Their run of form has brought them within one point of the second-placed Milan, and Antonio Conte’s side will overtake the Rossoneri with a victory this evening. 

Cagliari, meanwhile, are without a win since the end of January, when they beat Verona 4-0, and have only picked up two points from their last six matches since then. They are currently in 15th place, six points above the relegation zone. 

Napoli are without Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Antonio Vergara and David Neres through injury, but Conte’s ‘fab 4’ of Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne, Stanislav Lobotka and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa are finally all back and available for selection. 

McTominay, De Bruyne, Lobotka and Billy Gilmour are the chosen starters in midfield, supporting Rasmus Hojlund in the lone centre-forward role. Anguissa starts among the substitutes. 

Tonight’s game involves six players who have been called up to Gennaro Gattuso’s Italy national team squad for the World Cup play-offs coming up at the end of the month. Cagliari’s Elia Caprile and Marco Palestra are among the national team inclusions, as well as Alessandro Buongiorno, Leonardo Spinazzola, Matteo Politano and Alex Meret from the Napoli camp. 

Kick-off this evening is due at 17.30 GMT. 

Cagliari vs. Napoli: Confirmed line-ups 

Cagliari (4-3-3): Caprile; Zé Pedro, Mina, Dossena, Rodriguez; Adopo, Gaetano, Sulemana; Palestra, Folorunsho, Esposito. 

Napoli (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Buongiorno, Olivera; Politano, Gilmour, Lobotka, Gutierrez; De Bruyne, McTominay; Højlund.

20-03-2026 17:30

MatchDay 30

Unipol Domus (Sardegna Arena)

Cagliari

Napoli

0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

		2'		Scott McTominay
		17'		Stanislav Lobotka
Zé Pedro		35'

2nd half

		69'		Mathías Olivera
Alberto Dossena		90+4'

Match statistic

33

Possession %

67

7

Total shots

17

Shots on target

5

7

Shots off target

4

Blocked shots

8

2

Corners

7

Offsides

2

12

Fouls

16

Cagliari

Napoli

Starting lineups

1

Elia Caprile

Goalkeeper

22

Alberto Dossena

Defender

15

Juan Rodríguez

Defender

84'

2

Marco Palestra

Defender

26

Yerry Mina

Defender

32

Zé Pedro

Defender

73'

10

Gianluca Gaetano

Midfielder

90

Michael Folorunsho

Midfielder

65'

8

Michel Adopo

Midfielder

73'

25

Ibrahim Sulemana

Midfielder

94

Sebastiano Esposito

Attacker

84'

32

Vanja Milinković-Savić

Goalkeeper

4

Alessandro Buongiorno

Defender

17

Mathías Olivera

Defender

84'

3

Miguel Gutiérrez

Defender

31

Sam Beukema

Defender

6

Billy Gilmour

Midfielder

77'

11

Kevin De Bruyne

Midfielder

8

Scott McTominay

Midfielder

68

Stanislav Lobotka

Midfielder

55'

21

Matteo Politano

Attacker

76'

19

Rasmus Højlund

Attacker

Substitutes

30

Leonardo Pavoletti

Attacker

28

Gabriele Zappa

Defender

4

Luca Mazzitelli

Midfielder

24

Giuseppe Ciocci

Goalkeeper

12

Alen Sherri

Goalkeeper

27

Joseph Liteta

Midfielder

36

Nicola Grandu

Midfielder

20

Agustín Albarracín

Midfielder

9

Semih Kılıçsoy

Attacker

65'

14

Alessandro Deiola

Midfielder

73'

31

Paul Mendy

Attacker

73'

37

Yael Trepy

Attacker

84'

18

Othniel Raterink

Midfielder

84'

1

Alex Meret

Goalkeeper

20

Eljif Elmas

Midfielder

14

Nikita Contini

Goalkeeper

30

Pasquale Mazzocchi

Defender

9

Romelu Lukaku

Attacker

23

Giovane

Attacker

23

Giovane Nascimento

Attacker

27

Alisson Santos

Attacker

55'

37

Leonardo Spinazzola

Defender

76'

99

Frank Anguissa

Midfielder

77'

5

Juan Jesus

Defender

84'

Stanislav Lobotka is expected to return to Napoli‘s starting XI for an away game at Cagliari today, while Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne will play behind Rasmus Hojlund.

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It kicks off at 18:30 CET (17:30 GMT), and it’s the opening game of Serie A Round 30.

The Partenopei must cope without Amir Rrahmani, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Antonio Vergara and David Neres, but De Bruyne is fit to start.

According to several sources, including Gazzetta, Sky, and Corriere dello Sport, the Belgian star will get the nod as an attacking midfielder alongside McTominay, behind the sole striker Hojlund.

Lobotka is back from an injury and will join Billy Gilmour in central midfield, with Zambo Anguissa initially on the bench.

Cagliari are without the suspended Adam Obert and the injured Andrea Belotti, Gennaro Borrelli, Mattia Felici and Riyad Idrissi.

Coach Fabio Pisacane will likely pick just one centre forward, Sebastiano Esposito, who returns from a one-game ban, leaving Semih Kılıçsoy on the bench.

Cagliari vs. Napoli – where to watch on TV

The match will be broadcast on DAZN and the BBC iPlayer in the UK and Ireland and on Paramount+ in the USA. Football Italia will provide live updates via a liveblog.

Cagliari vs. Napoli – probable line-ups

Cagliari (3-5-2): Caprile; Zé Pedro, Mina, Dossena; Zappa, Deiola, Gaetano, Mazzitelli, Palestra; Folorunsho, Seb. Esposito.

Napoli (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Buongiorno, Olivera; Politano, Gilmour, Lobotka, Gutierrez; De Bruyne, McTominay; Højlund. 

Inter Milan and AC Milan sit jointly at the top of Serie A’s shirt sponsorship earnings table, but the gap between the division’s biggest clubs and the rest remains stark, and for one club, the commercial silence is deafening.

Both Milan clubs currently earn €30 million per season from their respective shirt partners, according to reports gathered by CalcioMercato.

Inter receive their fee from Bettson, whose logo appears as Bettson.sport on the jersey, a workaround required under Italian laws prohibiting direct betting sponsorship.

Milan’s deal with Emirates is worth the same figure this season, though a recently signed renewal will see that rise to €35 million from 2026/27 onwards.

Serie A shirt sponsors: Juventus, Napoli & Roma rise as Lazio go sponsorless

Juventus, meanwhile, have seen a dramatic fall in commercial income in this area.

Having gone a full season without a shirt sponsor, Save the Children carried no financial value, the club have returned Jeep to their jersey, but through an internal Exor arrangement worth just €19 million this season, rising to €23 million next year.

It is a far cry from the €45 million the previous Jeep deal delivered at its peak. Napoli’s MSC Crociere deal is worth €9 million this season and is also set to increase in the coming campaign.

Roma have just unveiled a new shirt partner of their own, Eurobet.live, another betting-adjacent workaround, worth €8 million this season and €13 million from next.

Across the city, however, Lazio remain the only club in Serie A without a shirt sponsor, with Claudio Lotito yet to secure any commercial partnership for the jersey.

Some of the most eye-catching figures come from family-owned clubs with internal sponsorship arrangements. Fiorentina receive €25 million from Mediacom, a company connected to the late Rocco Commisso’s family, while Sassuolo’s Mapei deal is worth €18 million.

At the other end of the scale, the numbers are considerably more modest. Bologna receive €3 million from owner Joey Saputo’s business, Atalanta earn €5 million from Lete, and Cagliari pick up €3.6 million from the Sardinian regional government.

Torino (Suzuki, €2.35m), Parma (Prometeon, €1.5m), Udinese (Friuli Venezia Giulia region, €1.5m) and Genoa (Pulsee, €1.2m) follow, with Verona, Lecce and Como all on €1 million.

Pisa bring up the rear with €700,000 from Cetilar, who also sponsor the stadium.

The Lega Serie A have confirmed that Roma wing-back Wesley Franca will be suspended for one match and that Inter and Lazio head coaches Cristian Chivu and Maurizio Sarri are among those who picked up bans during the 29th round of 2025-26 fixtures. 

Official: Wesley, Chivu and Sarri decisions confirmed after Serie A week 29

Serie A Week 29 began with Torino’s 4-1 win against Parma on Friday night and came to a close with Fiorentina’s 4-1 victory away against relegation rivals Cremonese on Monday evening. 

Three red cards were dished out by the officials during the 29th round of Serie A fixtures. The harshest of those punishments has been handed to Pisa’s Rafiu Durosinmi, who has earned a two-game ban for having kicked out at an opponent in an off the ball incident during his side’s 3-1 win over Cagliari. 

Adam Obert was also shown a red card during Cagliari’s 3-1 loss against Pisa and has picked up a one-match suspension as a result. 

Wesley was also sent off during Roma’s 2-1 defeat away against top-four rivals Como for what many feel was a harsh second yellow card offence. His ban has been upheld, and he will be suspended for Roma’s upcoming Serie A test against Lecce. 

Parma’s Enrico Delprato, Pisa’s Michel Aebischer and Cremonese’s Warren Bondo have all now picked up five yellow cards for the season and will all be suspended for Serie A week 30. 

Chivu has also been suspended for Inter’s upcoming trip to Fiorentina after being shown two yellow cards against Atalanta on Saturday, and Lazio’s Sarri has also been suspended for one match after leaving his technical area and making disrespectful comments towards the match officials against Milan.