Scottish stars have already been making their mark in Serie A in recent seasons. And on Sunday afternoon in Naples, a new piece of unique history was created.
With Napoli summer signings Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour lining up against a Empoli team that contained former Celtic and Hibs youngster Liam Henderson, the top-tier became the first clash in Serie A history to feature three Scottish players at one time. While icons such as Denis Law, Graeme Souness and Joe Jordan all had spells in Italy, Lewis Ferguson’s Bologna squaring off against Josh Doig’s Verona (and later Sassuolo), Aaron Hickey’s meeting with Henderson’s Empoli in his lone season at Bologna and the recent link-up between McTominay and Gilmour are the only times that more than one Scot had taken to the pitch in a Serie A game.
Gilmour made his first league start in Napoli’s narrow 1-0 over Empoli that has seen Antonio Conte’s side open up a three point lead at the top of the table. Boss Conte felt the former Chelsea and Brighton star struggled in the first half but was pleased with the 23-year-old for upping his game after the interval.
Conte said: “In the first half he struggled a bit to find the right measures, in the second half he did much better like the whole team. I’m happy we have him, he’s an excellent player. It wasn’t easy today in Empoli, the performance was positive overall, he’s an important option”.
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