Inter and Napoli Launch a New Serie A Rivalry as Old Faces Antonio Conte and Romelu Lukaku Return to San Siro

Inter Milan against Napoli has never really been a fixture with a lot of backstory. There is no great rivalry, except for a brief moment in time when both contested the 1988-89 Scudetto, a battle between Diego Maradona and Lothar Matthaus in their absolute pomp.

When Napoli were the best team in the land during the Maradona era, their biggest rivals were Silvio Berlusconi’s resurgent AC Milan, not Inter. By the time Inter rose to prominence in a post-Calciopoli landscape in the mid-to-late 2000s, Napoli were nowhere to be found. In fact, the Partenopei were languishing in Serie B until 2007 after seven years in the Italian second tier.

Inter’s dominance from 2006 until 2010 was a rebuilding time for the southern club under Aurelio De Laurentiis, as Roma came to the fore to be Inter’s main challenger.

For Neapolitans, Juventus have traditionally been enemy No. 1, with Roma and Milan off in the distance. Inter have always been just a big team from the north to try and slay. Yet this season could be very different. 

Sunday’s clash between the pair at San Siro is laced with narrative, making it all the more appetising. 

First of all, it’s a top-of-the-table clash. While most expected Napoli to crack the top four this season under Antonio Conte, few would’ve predicted such a strong start. Conte has brought Napoli back to the summit of Serie A for the first time since Luciano Spalletti and they sit a point clear of Inter.

This has been influenced by the lack of European football this season, with the 55-year-old being a man who loves having only one game a week. Moreover, Napoli’s squad isn’t the biggest and therefore playing once a week maximises the players at his disposal.

The game also sees Conte return to San Siro for the first time as an opposing coach, and he brings Romelu Lukaku with him.

Both left San Siro in less-than-ideal ways. Weeks after guiding Inter to their first Scudetto since the Jose Mourinho era, Conte walked out in the early summer of 2021 after he realised Inter were about to lose two of their marquee players, Achraf Hakimi and Lukaku, to balance the books. To the former Chelsea boss, this lack of ambition was unacceptable – he walked away from a winning squad and was replaced by current manager Simone Inzaghi.

The parallels between what happened at Inter and what went down at Juventus a decade ago aren’t lost on anyone. Conte walked out on Juve days into pre-season training in the summer of 2014 and was replaced by Max Allegri, who ostensibly took the same group of players to within 90 minutes of a treble in his first season. At Inter, Inzaghi inherited many of the same players Conte walked out on in 2021, and made them a more enterprising team whilst also reaching a major European final within two years.

Lukaku’s story is rather mixed. His first departure was forced due to Inter’s rapidly increasing debt. Conte had got the best out of the Belgian during his initial two years, but the move to Chelsea was disastrous and Lukaku was pining for a return to Milan from the minute he set foot in London.

Yet upon his return to Inter, Lukaku found a very different set-up. He was no longer the main man as he’d been under Conte. With Inzaghi in charge, Lautaro Martinez was now the focus and Lukaku was second fiddle, or even third, at best.  Edin Dzeko was often preferred to partner Martinez.

A Champions League final cameo appearance in which he appeared to hinder rather than help Inter’s search for an equaliser against Manchester City added to his frustration, yet the Nerazzurri wanted to keep him. 

His actions in the aftermath, though, puzzled the club hierarchy. Lukaku reportedly put out feelers to both Juventus and Milan about a potential move, and then simply turned his phone off to Inter and stopped responding to calls or text messages. Fed up with a wild goose chase, Inter then turned to Marcus Thuram as a replacement which, in hindsight, has worked out for the best.

Lukaku eventually wound up at Roma after running out of options. He failed to score against Inter last season in either game. When the capital club travelled north to face his former employers, he was greeted by the sound of 30,000 plastic whistles in unison, handed out by Inter’s Curva Nord before the game.

The whistles worked, as the returning striker was scarcely involved in the game and was given a 4.5/10 by La Gazzetta dello Sport the following morning.

Both Conte and Lukaku now return to the club where they last won silverware as league leaders. The Belgium international has scored four goals in nine, and a Napoli win could be a statement of intent, despite Aurelio De Laurentiis’ recent proclamations to the contrary.

For Inter, they’ll be out to prove the pair are nothing but a distant memory. Inzaghi rested four key players for the Champions League win over Arsenal, and a tactical masterclass from either coach could be in the offing.

For years, Inter against Napoli has often been a big game without any needle. That isn’t the case now.