Napoli Thrash Cremonese To Boost Champions League Hopes In Serie A, 2026newsline24

Napoli strengthened their push for Champions League football with a dominant 4-0 home victory over Cremonese in Serie A, a result that moved Antonio Conte’s team up to second place and extended their lead over fifth-placed Como to 11 points with four league matches still to play.

The win also arrived after a brief dip in league form, as Napoli had gone two games without victory. This performance eased pressure in the chase behind Inter for the Scudetto and reinforced Napoli’s command against newly promoted opposition, while key players produced decisive moments across the 90 minutes.

Kevin De Bruyne reached a significant personal landmark during the match, scoring the 100th goal of the midfielder’s career in the top five European leagues. Since De Bruyne first appeared in those competitions in the 2012-13 season, only Marco Reus has also reached 100 league goals among midfielders across the same divisions.

Napoli continued an effective record this season against newly promoted Serie A teams. They have now faced such sides five times in the league, winning every fixture. The aggregate score across those games stands at 12-2, and it is the first sequence of five straight wins over promoted clubs since the 2020-21 campaign under Gennaro Gattuso.

Conte’s team controlled the contest by both volume and quality of attempts. Napoli finished with 25 shots, 10 on target, producing an expected goals value of 2.86. Cremonese managed seven efforts with an xG of only 0.27, highlighting Napoli’s defensive control and the visiting side’s limited threat across the contest.

On the pitch, Napoli struck early at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. After Emil Audero denied Scott McTominay moments before, the midfielder scored in the third minute. McTominay collected De Bruyne’s pass on the edge of the area and drilled a low shot into the bottom-left corner.

The lead stayed narrow until first-half stoppage time, although Napoli controlled play. Just before the interval, Rasmus Hojlund doubled the advantage when a shot took a deflection off Filippo Terracciano and rolled over the line. Soon after, De Bruyne pressed Youssef Maleh inside the box, stole possession and finished calmly, following an acrobatic touch from McTominay to keep Alisson Santos’ cross alive.

Napoli maintained intensity after the break and extended the score seven minutes into the second half. Vanja Milinkovic-Savic played the ball short to Santos, who carried it from deep inside Napoli territory and drove forward before wrong-footing Audero with a composed strike to make it 4-0 and end the contest.

Cremonese’s goalkeeper remained busy, tipping a powerful long-range attempt from Billy Gilmour wide, before Amir Rrahmani headed the resulting corner against the crossbar. Late on, Giovana’s effort struck Alberto Grassi’s hand, leading to a penalty. McTominay took responsibility in the 83rd minute, but Audero dived left and produced an excellent stop to prevent a fifth Napoli goal.

The result gave Napoli a needed lift in the Serie A title chase against Inter while also consolidating a top-four position. With four league games left, an 11-point cushion over Como puts Champions League qualification within reach, and performances like this reinforce Napoli’s strong home form against lower-ranked opponents.