Article 62 — Write Off Juventus At Your Own Risk
Serie A is taking on a familiar but dreaded look. Juventus after two below-par performances which included losing the Coppa Italia final bounced back with a 2–0 win over Bologna at the Stadio Dall’Ara.
I had already warned in my article here: https://medium.com/@rasfootballworld/article-55-the-1st-trophy-in-italy-goes-to-napoli-943c36394167 of the perils of writing them off. There were reports of a row after the Coppa Italia final defeat between the players and the manager, Maurizio Sarri. A strong reaction was to be expected from the players especially the senior statesmen in the dressing room.
If there are rumours of a row and bust-up in any other team, you would think the team has lost it but not Juventus. They get stronger. I still feel they can be beaten but they have so much of experience of seeing it across the line and their mentality gives them an edge over the rest. They are now at their most dangerous.
The chasing pack dropped points to make things better for Juventus and the worse for the rest. Lazio lost their 21-match unbeaten run after letting a 0–2 lead slip to the impressive and in-form side Atalanta, losing 3–2. That win meant that Atalanta closed the gap on 3rd placed Inter to 4 points. Inter as covered in my previous article, drew 3–3 against Sassuolo to all but rule themselves out of the title race. I hope Lazio can put this defeat behind them and get back to winning ways to ensure an exciting end to Serie A and hopefully break Juventus’ stranglehold on the league.
Roma came from 0–1 down to beat Sampdoria thanks to two great strikes on the volley by Edin Dzeko. The Romans are chasing down a Champions League spot but with the form Atalanta is in, it looks unlikely they can get there at the minute. Napoli’s good form continued as they moved up to 6th with a 2–0 win over a Hellas Verona team that has impressed everyone this season. Napoli has already secured a place in the Europa League with their victory in the Coppa Italia.
AC Milan has been in good form since the turn of the year and they carried on that form with a 4–1 thrashing of Lecce at a difficult ground to visit, Stadio Via Del Mare. There was a heart-warming incident in this game. Ante Rebic ran clear through to make it 3–1 for his team, 3 minutes after Lecce’s equaliser. That goal disappointed a Lecce ball boy behind the goal and Rebic proceeded to hug him after the goal to console him.
At the bottom half, Brescia looks increasingly doomed for relegation as Fiorentina came from 0–1 down to draw 1–1. Fiorentina’s Martin Caceres got sent off for collecting two yellow cards but Fiorentina had the better chances in the game. Brescia holds a special place in my heart for being Roberto Baggio’s final club but sadly, their time looks up in Serie A. It will take a miracle for them to get out of the bottom and stay up. Their off-pitch saga with Mario Balotelli looks to be over as well. Brescia’s manager, Diego Lopez reported that Balotelli has joined the training and apologised to him. I doubt that is the last we will hear on this saga.
Cagliari gained a late 1–0 win over SPAL compounding the misery of SPAL in the 19th place through Giovanni Simeone. They took look like they have a mountain to climb if they are to stay in Serie A. The three points are vital for Cagliari to keep them away from the relegation zone. Torino too got 3 vital points, beating Udinese 1–0 thanks to Andrea Belotti’s strike to bring them closer to safety. Udinese is still not out of danger yet, 3 points away from Lecce in 18th place.
Another team in the relegation dogfight, Genoa in 17th place was in decent form before the break but got hammered 4–1 by Parma who is chasing a place in Europe. Roma, Milan and Parma are in the race for the Europa League spots with Napoli already confirmed a spot.
Lecce’s manager, Fabio Liverani has already raised alarm bells by saying that his team is not fit enough and some players have been inactive during the enforced break. They have shown to be a good team, a tough team to face particularly at home but if the fitness issues are not resolved very soon, they would be going down. Genoa needs to regain their before lockdown form if they are to stay on in Serie A.
