McTominay to Napoli’s rescue: Brace against Inter keeps Serie A title race alive
While Manchester United are struggling to get their season back on track, their academy product continues to thrive in Serie A
While Manchester United are struggling to get their season back on track, their academy product continues to thrive in Serie A
A 2-2 home draw against Hellas Verona on Wednesday saw Napoli fall four points behind Serie A leaders Inter, who grabbed a 2-0 victory at Parma on the same day. Hence, a victory in Sunday’s clash at the Giuseppe Meazza would have allowed Inter to stretch their lead on the top to seven points from the reigning champions.
Yet just as that looked likely to happen, up stepped Scott McTominay to ensure that was not to be the case, by almost single-handedly rescuing a late point away at Inter. The hosts opened the scoring through Federico Dimarco nine minutes into the game, but the Scotland international levelled the scores before the half-an-hour mark.
Hakan Çalhanoğlu converted from the spot in the 73rd minute to put Inter back in front, but McTominay completed his brace with nine minutes to go, clinching a hard-fought point for the visitors.
The former Manchester United midfielder has netted four goals in as many games against Inter, who have not managed a victory over Napoli with McTominay on the pitch.
With a spectacular brace, Scott McTominay is the Panini Player of the Match for #InterNapoli 🏆👏 pic.twitter.com/R5zsKHaZ6R
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 11, 2026
From fringe player at Man Utd to Serie A star
McTominay joined Napoli in the summer of 2024 after struggling to establish himself at Manchester United. He took Serie A by storm, ending his first season at the team with 12 goals and four assists and leading the Partenopei all the way to domestic glory.
Riding on a spectacular momentum, the 29-year-old midfielder went on to help Scotland clinch a spot in the 2026 World Cup by scoring one of their four goals in a 4-2 qualifier victory over Denmark back in December.
Thriving in Napoli’s midfield, McTominay has already recorded eight goals and four assists in 27 games across all competitions this term. Meanwhile, his former team are struggling in England, as Manchester United have won just one of their last seven games across all competitions.
A 1-1 draw away at Leeds United to open 2026 led to Ruben Amorim’s dismissal, with a home loss to Brighton on the same day where McTominay bagged a brace at Inter leading to the team’s elimination from the FA Cup.
A Manchester United academy product, McTominay made his senior debut for the Red Devils back in May 2017. He made just over 250 appearances for the club, with whom he won the 2023/24 FA Cup.
However, he opted to ply his trade elsewhere and parted ways with his boyhood team after a few months. Less than a year later, he earned the Serie A MVP award after leading Napoli to just their fourth ever league title.
While Manchester United are struggling to get their season back on track, McTominay managed to pull off another masterclass in Serie A, this time away at Inter to heat up a title race that promises to go down the wire.
