Antonio Conte described Napoli's three points against Cremonese on Friday as "crucial" in the context of the race to secure Champions League football next season.
Napoli ensured leaders Inter would have to wait at least another week to wrap up the Serie A title after thumping lowly Cremonese 4-0 at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Scott McTominay got the ball rolling with his third-minute finish before Filippo Terracciano's own goal and a Kevin De Bruyne strike put Conte's side in control before the break.
The Partenopei added to their tally seven minutes after the restart through Alisson Santos, while McTominay saw his late penalty brilliantly saved by Emil Audero low to his left.
Napoli's triumph moved them up to second in the top flight but, more importantly, saw them pull 11 points clear of fifth-placed Como, with the Opta supercomputer now assigning them a 99.1% chance of qualifying for UEFA's flagship competition for the second consecutive year.
Conte's team have recorded at least five wins against newly promoted teams in a single Serie A season for the first time since 2020-21 under Gennaro Gattuso, though the Napoli boss believed the result had put them in a good position for the rest of their campaign.
"We're happy, we had fun, and we're second while waiting for the results of the others," Conte told DAZN via TuttoMercatoWeb.
"These are three crucial points for the Champions League."
Napoli saw their 26-game unbeaten run at home in Serie A (W19 D7) ended by Lazio last time out.
Under the guidance of the same manager, they had not lost consecutive league matches at the Maradona since December 2021 (a run of three, under Luciano Spalletti).
But they ensured back-to-back losses in front of their home supporters would not transpire, winning a Serie A match by at least a four-goal margin for the first time since 15th September 2024, away against Cagliari, while it had not happened in a home game since 13th January 2023 (5-1 against Juventus).
Napoli dominated from start to finish, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 3.16 from their 25 attempts to Cremonese's tally to 0.28 from their seven attempts.
"I had no doubts about the team's response. We didn't hit the target against Lazio. Nothing went right. Today there was great determination and a desire for revenge," Conte said.
"After Lazio, there was too much excessive criticism for a team that won the league and the Super Cup and is still in second place.
"Despite, still missing four players, like Di Lorenzo, Neres, Lukaku and Vergara."
Napoli's win was led by McTominay. His strike, timed at two minutes and 23 seconds, saw him reach two goals scored within the first three minutes of play in this league season.
The Scotland international is also the midfielder who has scored the most goals in this calendar year in Serie A (seven). He is also the only central midfielder to have scored at least 10 home goals over the last two seasons of the competition (three in 2025-26 and seven in 2024-25).
McTominay also finished with team-high totals for shots (10), chances created (three), total passes (66) and passes in the final third (20), while only Santos (eight) won more duels than the Scot's seven.
When asked about McTominay's best position, Conte was clear, saying: "Let's not forget that we had to force McTominay's central midfielder option because only he and Lobotka were left.
"I think that's his position, because he can play box-to-box, and we worked with him on building with the other midfielder."