Aurelio De Laurentiis and Antonio Conte shared their feelings of joy after Napoli beat Cagliari to secure the club's fourth Serie A title.
“I feel a lot lighter now because winning this fourth Scudetto means a lot,” the president admitted. “It means we're using the work ethic of the South to compete with the powers of the North.
“I spoke to Conte in January last year but he said he'd prefer to join in June to build the team together. We managed to do that and I thank him because he's a great coach who's done an incredible job. I'd be very happy if he took the team into the Champions League next season.
“Today children in Naples are proud to wear the Napoli shirt and that for me is the greatest joy because children are our future. Naples is a marvellous city with a winning mentality. In times of trouble or despair, these people are always able to pick themselves up and look to brighter horizons. Long live Naples!
“We'll keep looking forward and try to build an even better team so that we can reach even greater heights. But now let me celebrate the Scudetto and my birthday with this wonderful city!”
The coach was full of praise for his players.
“These lads have been fantastic. It wasn't easy tonight because the expectation and tension were incredibly high. It's a wonderful triumph that my players deserve because a lot of them stayed here and gave it another crack after two years and they gave their all till the end.
“It's definitely the hardest and most exciting Scudetto of my career. Coming to Naples and rebuilding to this level in the first year was completely unexpected and it's been amazing. It's very difficult to win in Naples and if this team has managed to do it again two years after the first time it means they are have immense qualities.
“President De Laurentiis and I have a great relationship and so do our families. They say I'm a winner but he's a winner too. We're both winners and this year we've won an incredible Scudetto.”
