McTominay fired Napoli a huge step closer to the Serie A title and he made history in more ways than one along the way
Scott McTominay made it 11 Serie A goals for the season, the most ever by a Scottish player, as Napoli pounced on an Inter stumble to take charge of the title race.
The superlatives are running out to describe the Scotland superstar since he swapped Manchester United for Naples in the summer.
Heading into Sunday night’s clash with Torino, Napoli knew that a win would be a serious boost for their Scudetto charge, with Inter losing at home to Roma earlier that day.
And there was only one man they were going to turn to.
McTominay had scored three in their last two games, being named man of the match in both, and he was the star of the show once again as they cruised to a 2-0 win.
He powered in both first half goals, the second putting him on 11 for the season – something even the great Denis Law didn’t manage in the 1960s.
He also surpassed Lewis Ferguson for the best individual goalscoring season for a Scot in Italy.
The scenes that followed were emotional for Napoli who felt the title momentum swing in their favour and a fired-up McTominay was mobbed by his teammates after the goal hit the back of the net.
There might be a tinge of crisis hiding in it for a Napoli team who lost key men Alessandro Buongiorno, Franck Zambo Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka to injuries throughout the second half.
But for McTominay it was history in more ways than one.
According to TNT Sports, only two Brutish players in history prior to this one had scored two goals or more in a single game in Italy’s top flight – Trevor Francis with Sampdoria and John Charles with Juventus, all the way back in the early 1960s.
He and teammate Billy Gilmour also become the first Scots in the modern era to lift the Serie A trophy if Napoli can safely navigate their final four games. The only Scottish players on record to do that are Jack Diment and James Squair who won Juve’s first Scudetto all the way back in 1905.
Rarified company indeed!
Napoli are now three clear with 12 left to play for.
