Why McTominay is known as the 'bottle opener' at title-chasing Napoli

Napoli are 2-0 up after 40 minutes and Braveheart’s got both of them.

It’s a big game, this. A chance to go three clear with four to play in the hunt for a fourth Scudetto in 98 years. Everyone knows the stakes, and Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, feral and sprawling and gladiatorial at the best of times, feels more like an ampitheatre than ever.

But Braveheart, as well you might expect, is not one to shy away from the big occasion. And as Scott McTominay scores the second of his two goals, his 10th and 11th for the season, a smile spreads across his face.

McTominay earned the nickname Braveheart shortly after his arrival in Naples last summer. It is the perfect moniker.

It speaks to his nationality, of course, but also his fearlessness and tenacity on the pitch. And, just like William Wallace before him, in Italy’s oft-maligned south, McTominay is spearheading a righteous cause for his oppressed people, a fight against wealthier and snootier and more powerful neighbours.

Happily, unlike Mel Gibson’s take on Wallace, McTominay is the real deal. His brace against Torino on Sunday — and the score stayed 2-0 — meant he has five goals from three games since his boss, Antonio Conte, publicly asked him for more of them. McTominay was named man of the match after all three games.

The Torino win meant momentum in the Italian title race swung decisively towards Naples on a day when title rivals Inter lost at home to Roma. At full time, Napoli's official account on X posted a photo of the Scot, beaming and with his arm raised in celebration, alongside one of Gibson's woad-faced Wallace striking an identical pose. Napoli's four remaining fixtures are all against teams in the bottom seven, while Inter have the distraction of a Champions League semi-final with Barcelona. A fifth Serie A title for Conte is on its way.

But nobody is more responsible for Napoli’s success this season than McTominay. Since leaving Manchester United in a £25.7million deal last August, he has flourished in a more advanced No8 midfield role — the role that long seemed his best position but which he was only able to fulfil intermittently at Old Trafford. It suits his innate finishing ability, his sense of timing, knowing exactly when to crash the box.

'I was quite misprofiled (at United),' explained McTominay in a recent interview with the Athletic. 'My strengths have always been getting into the box, scoring goals, being a problem in there. But I was being used as a No 6, or as a centre back, and that has never really been my game.

'But when you’re playing for Manchester United and you’re 20, you can’t knock on the manager’s door and say you expect to be playing at No 8 ahead of Paul Pogba. It’s not realistic. You have to know your place, and do what you’re asked to do.'

McTominay does not do consolation goals. Of the nine Serie A games he has scored in this season, he bagged the opener in seven of them. His strikes have come in vital 1-0 wins away to Torino and Monza, a draw with Inter in San Siro, and swashbuckling victories at Fiorentina and Atalanta. His habit of making it 1-0 has even earned him another soubriquet - Apribottiglie, the bottle opener.

Napoli have scored 18 goals fewer than Inter, so it's important to make them count. But Braveheart is the man for the big occasion.

'Scotto,' as he is known to Napoli's bellowing stadium announcer, brings much more than goals, however. He has won more duels (199) than any other midfielder in Serie A. He covers more ground than any other player in Serie A. The definition of an all-action midfielder.

‘McTominay has far exceeded expectations,’ says supporter Joseph Fischetti, host of the Forza Napoli Podcast. ‘In the past few weeks he has cemented his position as player of the season — not just for Napoli, but in all of Serie A.’

All of which makes you wonder why on earth United let him go.

Well, the reality is they didn’t want to. But McTominay paid the price for the largesse of the decision makers at Old Trafford, backed into a corner over the Premier League’s financial guidelines and in dire need to sell a homegrown player to balance the books.

It is the same predicament that may see Alejandro Garnacho or Kobbie Mainoo sold this summer. Do not be surprised if they, too, thrive after an avoidable exit. It seems to be a theme with former United players. But United's loss has been Napoli's gain and they sit firmly in the box seat for the title now.

McTominay has been helped in Naples by the presence of fellow Scot Billy Gilmour, who joined Napoli from Brighton last summer. The pair live close to each other on the outskirts of the city and are inseparable in the dressing room, too. McTominay calls the little midfielder ‘maestro’, and the maestro calls McTominay his fratello - brother. ‘Che giocatore’ posted McTominay under one of Gilmour’s recent photos on Instagram. What a player.

The duo share the services of a private chef, Mario Sorrentino. Seafood, especially freshly caught octopus, is often on the menu. There’s polpo alla luciana — octopus stew, a traditional fisherman’s dish — and zuppa di cozze — mussell soup, with octopus tentacles and shrimp piled high.

Sorrentino, who posts TikToks showing his meal prep for McTominay, has become a minor celebrity in his own right. Conte — a disciplinarian in every respect, and no less when it comes to his players’ diets — may have been disappointed to see Sorrentino preparing a fried meat cutlet (cotoletta) before a recent game with Empoli.

But McTominay scored two in a 3-0 win. ‘Chef, if you made him cutlets before Empoli, I recommend Friday night cutlets so Scott will be ready for Monza,’ wrote one supporter on Sorrentino’s TikTok. Whatever he served up, McTominay scored a second-half winner at Monza — a huge moment in the title race.

McTominay is a self-confessed foodie. ‘The tomatoes here, oh my goodness. Belissimo,' he gushed recently.

‘I never ate them at home. They’re just red water. Here, they actually taste like tomatoes. Now I eat them as a snack. I eat all the vegetables, all of the fruits. It is all so fresh. It’s incredible.’

It may seem a throwaway comment, but take it from the grandson of a nonna from Campania — there is no better way of ingratiating yourself to an Italian audience.

It also speaks to the way McTominay has embraced living abroad. He is learning Italian with the help of Duolingo, and has formal lessons twice a week. His partner, the model Cam Reading, has thrown herself into life on the continent, posting glamorous snaps of trips to Positano, Lake Como and Capri. ‘I’ve fallen in love with Italy,’ she writes on one.

British players have not always made good tourists but McTominay and Gilmour are giving the Romantic Poets a run for their money in terms of their reverence for the country. ‘If you can take that step and leave your comfort zone, you begin to flourish more as a person and as a player,' reflected McTominay recently.

‘McTominay is already loved by the Napoli faithful,’ adds Fischetti. ‘He speaks genuinely about his love for the city, which he and his partner Cam celebrate openly. From his desire to learn the language to his weakness for Italian food — especially the tomatoes! — to the results he’s delivering on the pitch, there is little not to like about him.’

Title winners in Naples take on a special kind of status. Think the Liverpool players who sealed the title last weekend will go down in Merseyside folklore? Forget it. You cannot move in Naples for tributes to their favourite sons.

It stems from it being a one-club city, yes, but more powerfully still, from its status as the beating heart of the so-called 'southern problem' of Italy. It is not uncommon for opposition fans to chant 'Napoli merda, Napolie colera: Sei la vergogna dell'Italia intera' (Naples s***, Naples cholera; you're the shame of the whole of Italy).

McTominay is now just a few weeks away from being the new hero of the city — a Maradona, a Kvaratskhelia.

That is exalted company to keep but that is where being the best player in a Napoli title win puts you. Braveheart is worthy of his nickname.