Last week, Scott McTominay posted a picture on Instagram. In it, he and Billy Gilmour stand arm in arm, sunglasses on, waves rolling in to meet the Campanian coastline behind them as Mount Vesuvius peaks through the clouds.
‘A beautiful lunch with Maestro,’ McTominay wrote. We can only imagine he got a good recommendation in one of the world’s culinary hotspots. ‘Fratello,’ Gilmour responded. It means ‘brother’.
La Dolce Vita seems to suit Scotland’s brothers-in-arms. Dine in the sunshine during the week, take Napoli tantalisingly close to the Serie A title at the weekend. It’s not a bad life.
But the tranquillity of this pastel-coloured scene belies the pressure of the season run-in that awaits once the international break ends.
Napoli’s season is at a crossroads. For much of 2024/25, Antonio Conte’s side have led the way in Serie A, hinting at what would be an astonishing debut-season Scudetto for the firebrand coach.
The stars of Napoli’s title charge two years ago, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, were sold in the last two transfer windows. Napoli were supposed to be rebuilding, starting afresh under Conte after a disastrous 10th-place finish last year.
The manager has been keen to emphasise that point at every opportunity, reiterating after the recent win over Fiorentina that ‘the team is making this look normal when it isn’t’.
But now that the finish line is creeping into sight, Conte has changed his tune. A 1-1 draw with Inter, where Napoli outplayed the champions, boosted morale, before that 2-1 win over Fiorentina created a glorious opportunity.
Napoli went into Sunday’s game away to Venezia knowing that a win would put them two points clear on top before Inter faced Atalanta later in the day. Conte didn’t shy away from the importance of the moment, describing the trip to the lagoon as a ‘World Cup final’.
It didn’t look like it. Napoli were denied by the post and former Inter goalkeeper Ionut Radu, who made seven saves and denied McTominay twice as the relegation battlers held on for a 0-0 draw.
It was a joyous moment for Radu, who was widely held responsible for Inter surrendering the title to rivals Milan in 2021/22 after making a costly error in the run-in. This time, the Romanian’s heroics pushed Inter closer to the Scudetto, with the Nerazzurri’s 2-0 win away to Atalanta later that night putting them three points clear of Napoli at the summit.
Conte said the draw felt like a ‘half-defeat’. Not only was it a demoralising missed opportunity, but it meant that the positivity that had started to build after the Inter and Fiorentina games was forgotten in the face of some cold, hard facts.
Napoli have picked up just one win in their last seven matches, drawing five and losing one. The resultant return of eight points makes for the worst run over seven games that Conte has had for 15 years. Over the last five games, Napoli rank 11th in the Serie A form table. The pressure is on to find some answers.
However, with nine rounds remaining, Conte’s men do have the advantage of being able to fully focus on their title push, while self-declared Treble-hunters Inter have a Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich and Coppa Italia semi-final against rivals AC Milan around the corner.
The Nerazzurri also have a slightly tougher run-in on paper, with games against three of the top seven still to come: Bologna away and then Roma and Lazio at home.
Napoli, meanwhile, have a couple of big games coming up after the break, at home to Milan and away to Bologna, but then only have bottom-half opponents on their fixture card until the end of the season.
An additional boost for Napoli is the emergence of Scotland’s diminutive playmaker Gilmour, who has finally made his presence felt after getting a run in the starting side at the most crucial part of the season.
For a long time, it looked like the former Brighton midfielder would struggle to force his way into Conte’s plans. In the Napoli boss’s 4-3-3 formation, Gilmour’s role was as understudy to cultured Slovakian playmaker Stanislav Lobotka.
An injury to Lobotka in October gave Gilmour a few starts, but once he returned the Scot was benched again and found it harder and harder to force his way back into contention.
Between November 10 and March 1, Gilmour made just six substitute appearances for a combined 20 minutes of game time in Serie A. Conte had his team, and he didn’t look like changing it.
However, crisis can often bring opportunity in football, and Gilmour has found that to be the case in recent weeks.
Injuries to Franck Anguissa, Napoli’s box-to-box midfield powerhouse, and tricky winger David Neres forced a reshuffle of Conte’s tactics and selection.
He reverted to the tried-and-trusted 3-5-2 that was the bedrock of his success at Juventus and Inter, with Giacomo Raspadori, another almost entirely overlooked squad player, joining Romelu Lukaku up front and Gilmour replacing Anguissa in midfield.
It didn’t seem like an obvious fit, with Gilmour playing to the right of Lobotka rather than in his natural central position, with McTominay to the left. But it worked, with the Scot — and Raspadori — earning widespread praise for their performances against Inter.
Gilmour’s technical prowess stood out, as did his hunger for the ball, with the Scot getting 80 touches, including 17 key passes, in a dynamic display that spoke volumes about his desire to seize this rare chance.
Speaking after the game, Conte said: ‘Gilmour had a huge opportunity against Inter and I was clear with the players; in the final 11 games, those who deserve it will play.
‘There are no fixed spots, because they will be 11 battles, 11 finals, there is no credit in the bank. Gilmour did very well against Inter so he will play against Fiorentina. Will he do well again? Will he play the next one? Those who are on the bench need to make me change my mind.’
Gilmour played the full 90 minutes in another impressive display against Fiorentina, convincing Conte all over again in a 2-1 win.
The nickname ‘Maestro’ was soon doing the rounds as calcio luminaries lined up to praise this newfound talent from Ayrshire.
Former Napoli coach Walter Novellino told Gazzetta dello Sport he had been ‘won over’ by Gilmour after his two standout performances alongside Lobotka, praising ‘two central midfielders who alternate, who create, who think’.
‘From now on it will be 3-5-2,’ Novellino said. ‘I’m sorry for Anguissa, who is an extraordinary player, but how can you give up on Gilmour now?’
While Gilmour continues to fight for his right to a starting spot, there has never been a doubt about McTominay.
The former Manchester United man walked into the team from day one and has never left since, starting the last 27 Serie A games in a row under Conte and only being substituted three times in that run.
The tongue-in-cheek ‘McTomadona’ nickname that emerged in the early months of the season has been far from a burden for the midfielder, despite living in a city where it is hard to turn a corner without seeing Diego’s face staring back at you from a flag, poster or mural.
McTominay is Napoli’s second-top scorer, with Romelu Lukaku (10 goals) the only player to score more than his seven in all competitions.
In addition to his goal contributions, which have included crucial strikes in big games against Inter, Fiorentina and Atalanta, McTominay has chipped in with four assists, the third-best in the squad behind Lukaku (9) and Neres (8).
There has been as much delight about Napoli’s coup as bewilderment at how United let him go — including from former Scotland, Milan and Verona striker Joe Jordan.
‘Napoli did very well to sign him, but Manchester United did very badly letting him go,’ Jordan said. ‘It’s an error that can only be explained by the confusion that has reigned at that club in recent years.’
Back in October, a local news reporter made a video asking Neapolitan locals how to pronounce ‘McTominay’, with the answers ranging from ‘MacDonald’ to ‘MacToni’ to stunned silence. They know the name now.
When ex-Napoli forward Gianfranco Zola was asked which Napoli player he has most enjoyed watching this season, he didn’t need long to think.
‘Scott McTominay,’ Zola said. ‘He’s one of those players you highlight with a red circle, as (Italian journalist) Rino Tommasi used to say.’
Former Italy boss Gianpiero Ventura described him as ‘the key to this Napoli team without doubt’, while the Scot’s own team-mates clearly hold him in high regard too.
‘McTominay has had a big impact,’ skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo said last month. ‘We knew he was good, to be at United you need to have real quality, but the thing that impressed me is the impact he’s had on the situation in Naples.’
With the recent change in system, McTominay and Gilmour are now united on the pitch as well as off it.
Once they return from Scotland duty, their task will be to prove that the Venezia result was a stumble and not a sign of a slump.
Should they do so, McTomadona and the Maestro will have every chance of ending their first sun-soaked season in the Bay of Naples as Italian champions. They might not have to pay for lunch in the city ever again if they pull that off.