Past encounters
Napoli are 90 minutes away from history. They just have to clear the final hurdle of the 2024/25 season: Cagliari.
Friday's match at the Stadio Maradona – being played at the same time as Como v Inter – will see a team with a huge achievement within their grasp face off against a side that reached their target for the season last weekend, when they beat Venezia 3-0 to ensure they will remain in the top flight for another year. Not that Davide Nicola's side should be underestimated - grit and determination have been the hallmarks of their campaign.
Previous encounters read 34 wins for Napoli, 14 for Cagliari and 27 draws but the most recent match-ups have been more even, with three draws in the last six Serie A meetings – as many as in the previous 19. However, Napoli have beaten the Sardinians in nine of the last 12 league fixtures played in Naples (2D, 1L), racking up no fewer than 30 goals in the process (2.5 per match).
Azzurri fans will have fond memories of the last – and only – time these two sides met on a Friday evening: it finished 6-3 to Walter Mazzarri's team on 9 March 2012.
Cagliari's strengths: teamwork, aerial threat and pinpoint crossers
Teamwork is one of the first words that comes to mind when you think of Davide Nicola's Cagliari (or indeed any of his teams). Once again this season, the coach was able to set his men a target and show them how to achieve it – on this occasion with a game to spare.
The Sardinian outfit may have the luxury of coming to the Maradona with no impelling need for points but that doesn't mean they will be lacking the desire to prove themselves – not least against the league leaders with the world watching on.
One of Cagliari's main weapons is their aerial threat: they have scored 11 headers this season, fewer only than Inter's 15 and Atalanta's 12. It means they boast the highest percentage of headed goals in Serie A this term (28%, 11 of their 40 total).
There is sure to be an interesting battle in the air because Napoli are one of just two teams in the top five European leagues to have conceded a single headed goal in the 2024/25 season (Udinese being the other).
Cagliari, who typically line up with Yerry Mina and Sebastiano Luperto in the centre of a four-man defence, have won more balls in their own third than any other team this season, averaging 20.7 per match.
Luperto, with 35 league appearances in the current campaign, is one of Nicola's most trusted players, having previously played under the same coach at Crotone and Empoli.
Mina meanwhile, besides scoring in the recent 3-0 win over Venezia, is one of the leaders of the team and a reliable man-marker.
Much of Cagliari's play comes through wide midfielders Nadir Zortea and Tommaso Augello. Thir task is to push up and get crosses into the box. The tactic has thus far produced 83 successful deliveries (34 for Zortea and 49 for Augello), yielding nine assists from the pair (two and seven, respectively).
Indeed, Cagliari are among the Serie A teams with the most total crosses (including corners) in 2024/25: their tally of 746 is bettered only by Lazio (801) and Atalanta (861).
They have also managed the fourth-most crosses from open play (528), after Atalanta (585), Lazio (568) and Bologna (531).
Piccoli and Zortea the form men, Augello top provider of assists
Cagliari's top goalscorer (10) and player with the most goal involvements (11) is Roberto Piccoli – a man Napoli's rearguard will do well to keep a close eye on.
With his goal against Venezia last week, the 24-year-old became only the second under-25 Cagliari player to reach double figures in a single Serie A campaign since the start of the last decade (Giovanni Simeone the other).
The centre forward is enjoying something a purple patch having netted three times in his last five appearances – as many as in his 17 previous games. He is also the only player born after 1 January 2001 who has scored at least five goals both home and away (5+5).
Another player who has enjoyed a productive campaign is Nadir Zortea. In 34 league games, the 25-year-old has scored six goals – having managed four in the previous three seasons (67 games).
Zortea has been involved in a goal in each of the last three matches (one goal, two assists) – a fourth would be a new personal record for him.
Tommaso Augello is another cog in Cagliari's attacking play. He has served up the most chances for the team (39, at least six more than any other team-mate) and is one of Serie A's most prolific crossers from open play in 2024/25, with 135 deliveries to his name (the same as Dodo) – only Giuseppe Pezzella (148) and Raoul Bellanova have attempted more than the former Sampdoria man.
He is also the Cagliari player with the most assists this season. The last player to provide as many in a single Serie A campaign was Radja Nainggolan (seven in 2019/20).
Stats by Opta
