Serie A in 2023: History-making Osimhen, masterful Martinez, emerging Bologna

Besides Victor Osimhen becoming the first African Capocannoniere, what else stood out over the past 12 months in Serie A?

A look at the Serie A table 365 days apart presents remarkable observations.

Napoli led the way after 15 games heading into 2023, with AC Milan, Juventus and Lazio completing the top four. AC Milan, the Bianconeri, Maurizio Sarri's men and Inter Milan were followed by Atalanta and Roma to complete the league's top seven.

As 2023 concludes, the positions occupied by the same clubs equally present striking observations. Napoli are no longer the best side in Serie A — they rank outside the top six — Inter and Milan sit first and third, the capital clubs are outside the top four, and Atalanta and Roma are sixth and seventh. Juventus, third and 10 points adrift of Napoli at the backend of 2022, are second a year later and in contention for a 37th topflight title, despite whatever Massimiliano Allegri says…or does not.

Considering individuals, Victor Osimhen was nine league strikes into what turned out to be a historic 2023, while Lautaro Martinez’s inconsistency at the start of 2022-23 was shed for an outstanding year.

This piece is Serie A’s summation of what was in 2023.

Victor Osimhen: Capocannoniere

Without a doubt, 2023 was Osimhen’s year. The current African Footballer of the Year claimed the award for his outstanding form for Napoli’s previously elusive Scudetto, adding 17 more goals to the nine he netted before the turn of the year.

The striker netted a joint-high seven match-winning goals in 2022-23, with four coming at the turn of the year. The Nigerian’s goal at Udinese confirmed the Partenopei’s title success, ending a 33-year wait to reign supreme domestically. 

That was no match-winner, but it weighed close to the four game-clinching goals leading up to the season’s culmination. Osimhen added three match-securing strikes before 2024, taking him to seven in 2023. Only one player outdid that in 2023.

Osimhen, the first African to end as the leading scorer in Italy’s top division, also broke the ‘Capocannoniere curse’ — no league winner had won topped the scoring charts since Inter’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2008-09 — admirably ending the freak 14-year wait, and it happened in the same season the Nigeria international surpassed George Weah (46 goals) as the continent’s top-scoring player in Italy’s top flight. He has netted 57 Serie A goals.

Osimhen’s 2023 may have ended early after his dismissal in Napoli’s 2-0 loss to Roma, but the potential final months of his time in Naples should be exciting.

Masterful Lautaro Martinez

While injuries and Napoli’s rudderless post-Scudetto leadership have subdued Osimhen somewhat, Martinez’s impact over the calendar year should not be underestimated. Only ‘El Toro’ eclipsed Osimhen’s nine game-clinching goals in 2023, and the Inter Milan frontman’s 15 league strikes mean he goes into 2024 as the only player in Serie A to have hit double figures.

With 29 goals in Serie A in 2023 alone, Martinez eclipsed the 28-goal tally set by Christian Vieri and Diego Milito in 2001 and 2012 and had the Nerazzurri record in his sights until an injury sustained in the Coppa Italia defeat to Bologna ended the Argentina international’s goal tally at 29.  

Especially commendable for the masterful striker was his adeptness at playing with different partners up top in Simone Inzaghi’s 3-5-2, dovetailing with Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku in the first half of 2023 and forming a potent partnership with Marcus Thuram since the start of the ongoing campaign.

The emergence of Bologna

Was this foreseen? While Bologna may have ended 2023 with a surprising 3-0 defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Udinese, the disappointment of finishing the year outside the Champions League places should not crush Thiago Motta’s men.

Fifth spot is an astonishing position for the Rossoblu, who have leaned on the league’s third-best home record and one of the youngest squads in Europe — an average age of 24.8 — to punch above their weight in Serie A.

The 22-year-old Joshua Zirkzee and 24-year-old Lewis Ferguson have carried the can for the Rossoblu, competently assisted by Riccardo Orsolini (26) to push Bologna to within two points of a top-four spot heading into 2024.

For a side that was ranked 10th at this stage last year, a staggering 11 points behind fourth-placed Lazio, this transformation is beyond impressive and then some. The Rossoblu’s last recorded match in Europe was the 2002 final defeat against Fulham in the now-defunct Intertoto Cup, and a return to continental competition would be incredible for Bologna.

Who knows what 2024 has in store for Motta’s young group?

Jose Mourinho’s future & a gamble that backfired

Jose Mourinho seldom gets stuff wrong. It is how the Portuguese manager has secured most, if not all, of his titles in his illustrious career.

The ex-Inter Milan boss is revered in Rome. Supporters at the Olimpico never stay away from any home game, a pattern that has continued despite the absence of Champions League football. Roma were intent on returning to Europe’s most prestigious competition but had to make a difficult choice: prioritise a top-four finish in Serie A or throw everything into the Europa League.

Mourinho went with the latter in the end, and for good reason. Qualifying for a Champions League spot via the league was far from assured owing to the cadre of teams vying for limited positions and the plethora of games to be played. In the Europa League, a Roma group incapable of giving their all domestically and in Europe had fewer matches to navigate, and they could count on Mourinho’s cup-winning expertise to carry them through.

It was going well as the Giallorossi went 1-0 up in the decider through Paulo Dybala against Sevilla, only to be pegged back in after Gianluca Mancini inadvertently put the ball in at the wrong end. Mourinho’s gamble failed to pay off, and the months leading up to January 2024 have focused on the Portuguese boss entering the final months of his deal in the capital, and a renewal seems uncertain.

Whatever happens in 2024 is anyone’s guess, but Mourinho will not be without admirers if he leaves the Eternal City.

Juventus' topsy-turvy 2023

The Old Lady go into 2024 two points behind Inter in the table, an incredible turnaround from their position at the backend of 2022. Allegri’s men went into 2023 in third spot, albeit 11 points shy of league-leading Napoli and looked to be one of the frontrunners for a Champions League place.

However, the Bianconeri were put through the wringer in 2023, beginning with the 15-point deduction handed to the 36-time champions on January 20, 2023, for financial misdeeds and irregularities in their books.

This was appealed and was initially successful, with Juventus’ 15 points reinstated with eight Serie A gameweeks to play. Allegri’s team returned to third, two points back of second-placed Lazio, but another investigation saw the Old Lady deducted 10 points in the campaign’s final weeks.

The feeling around Juventus felt like frustration at having what they worked for all season taken from them. Other managers in the league, especially Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini and Mourinho, criticised the lack of clarity and how it impacted the battle for the desired European spots.

The upshot of that verdict in May 2023, minutes before Juventus took to the field to face Empoli, was the club’s slide to seventh in Serie A, ultimately leading to this year’s European absence as UEFA meted out punishment to the Italian giants, including their exclusion from the 2023-24 Europa Conference League.

Most of the second half of 2023 had Allegri keen to play down his side’s title credentials, but Juventus’ current standing and absence from European competition points to a two-horse race in 2024. A Scudetto race between the league’s top two that should be all shades of fun.

What happened to Lukaku’s expected Inter return?

Anyone who cared to listen believed Romelu Lukaku was returning to Inter on loan or permanently from Chelsea. This quickly went south, with last season’s Champions League runners-up revealing the striker was incommunicado before reports suggested the Belgian was talking to Juventus. Juventus!

That bizarre deal did not materialise, and all parties have moved on. Lukaku joined Roma on loan and has elevated the Giallorossi’s attack, with three of his eight league goals game-clinching strikes — only Christian Pulisic and Inter’s Martinez and Thuram (all four) have more.

The Chelsea loanee was understandably whistled on his San Siro return in late October, barely getting a chance to hurt old friends.

Stefano Pioli has far more than nine lives

The AC Milan boss endured a torrid 2023, even if his battling qualities to still be in a job at the end of the year is admirable. The Rossoneri boss’ issues began at the start of the year when the non-stop concession of goals saw points dropped from losing positions — case in point: losing a 2-0 lead at home to draw 2-2 with Roma — and letting in four in Lazio 4-0 beatdown of the Milan giants.

That precipitated a switch to a back three as he searched for stability, and the results were mixed. While the Parma-born tactician reverted to a back four, they were beneficiaries of Juventus’ 10-point deduction and took fourth place.

Questions over Pioli have not ceased at the start of 2023-24, and the Milan boss has not been helped by the continuous losses in the derby, underscored by five defeats to the Nerazzurri in 2023 in all competitions by an aggregate score of 12-1.

Injuries have plagued the Rossoneri for much of the 23-24 season, a misfortune that Pioli hopes lessens in the New Year.

At the bottom, the league said goodbye to Sampdoria, Cremonese and Spezia. The latter was involved in Serie A’s first relegation playoff since 2005 against Hellas Verona after both clubs finished level, with Verona securing their topflight status with a 3-1 triumph.

Fast forward to December, and the Mastiffs are primed for another battle for survival in 2024, as only two points separate them from cellar-dwelling Salernitana, managed by Milan icon Filippo Inzaghi. The Salerno outfit ended 2023 with a much-needed first away victory of 23-24, setting them up to fight for their lives in the New Year.

That tussle should include Claudio Ranieri, whose Cagliari currently sit third-bottom in the standings despite a rip-roaring triumph over fellow new boys Frosinone. The Rossoblu trailed 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining but stormed to success with four goals to claim an unexpected 4-3 win.

Despite claiming further home wins over Genoa and Sassuolo, Cagliari are not out of the woods, and the battle for survival should go down to the wire.

Serie A may be an acquired taste for many, but the never-ending storylines made the competition exciting in 2023, and 2024 should be no different.