Major European league could be settled by PENALTIES in bizarre winner-takes-all end of season event

Inter Milan and Napoli could play a spectacular one-off game to settle the Italian league title.

The top two in Serie A have pulled away from Atalanta but are locked together on 71 points with five games to play.

Inter's loss against Bologna last weekend allowed Antonio Conte's Napoli to draw level with them with a 1-0 win at Monza in which Scott McTominay scored his ninth Serie A goal.

Part of Serie A's weekend fixture programme was postponed after the passing of Pope Francis but Napoli's Saturday game and Inter's visit to Bologna on Sunday were both played.

Serie A traditionally used head-to-head results as its first tie-breaker if teams finished level on points.

Both of their meetings this season ended 1-1 and Inter remain top of the table on goal difference, but neither will crown a winner if the last two champions of Italy can't be separated on points in five games' time.

Two years ago, Lega Serie A implemented a new rule.

If teams at the top of the table or in the battle to avoid relegation finish level on points, the matter is no longer settled by head-to-head results or goal difference, which is commonly used as the primary tie-breaker in leagues around the world.

Instead, the teams in question will play again to determine who comes out on top.

As if to crank up the tension even more, the play-off will not have extra time. If the game is drawn after 90 minutes, or two legs in the case of a relegation play-off, the outcome will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

The prospect of a Scudetto-deciding shoot-out is exciting for the rest of us but unbearable for Inter and Napoli.

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Inter have been involved in exactly this kind of play-off before and Bologna were their conquerors on that occasion too, finally triumphing after the teams couldn't be split any other way.

"Curiously enough, Inter were involved on the only previous occasion that a Serie A title was decided with a playoff, back in 1964. They lost to Bologna," writes Nicky Bandini of The Guardian.

Serie A's own version of Game 39 has been required just once since the rule was changed.

Inter and Napoli could play the 'spareggio'

"Spezia and Verona [played] a 39th game in 2022-23 to decide who should drop to Serie B," adds Bandini.

"The regulations have since been tweaked, so a relegation playoff today would be settled over two legs. A title decider, however, would still be a one-off game."

With no difference in head-to-head, that game would be played at the home of the team with the higher goal difference.

That will be Inter, and what a setting for it.