Article 72 — Oh No! Why, Serie A?!
A familiar pattern is emerging in Serie A again much to my dismay and disappointment not only as an Inter fan but also as a fan of Serie A. The hope of seeing someone other than Juventus being champions of the league looks to be etching away as Juventus have taken firm control of their own destiny again. Since a disappointing restart which saw them lose the Coppa Italia final, they have been on a typically efficient and great run of results.
Juventus were first to play in Week 30 of Serie A in the Turin derby. Pre-game, I didn’t have much hope in Torino getting anything out of the game considering their recent form and their recent results in the derby. The last time Torino beat Juventus was in 2015 at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino but to my disbelief, the last time Torino got anything out of this fixture was just last year in a 1–1 draw at the Allianz Stadium.
Torino’s ex-player, Moreno Longo is not having a good time in-charge of his former club. They have only won once out of their last three matches and that winless run continued in this derby. Juventus comfortably thrashing their neighbours 4–1 to open a 7 point lead at the top.
Torino got a lucky break at the end of the first half when Matthijs De Ligt was judged to have handled the ball with his hand in the box. It looked harsh as his hand was not away from his body but the referee applied the letter of the law and awarded the penalty which was dispatched by Torino captain, Andrea Belotti. They couldn’t build on the lucky break in the second half to get back into the game though. The defeat also meant that Torino are now getting suck closer to the relegation zone as they remain 6 points above Lecce in 18th place.
Gianluigi Buffon started this game and broke the record of appearances in Serie A, appearing 648 games and counting now. Cristiano Ronaldo broke his free-kick duck for Juventus by scoring his team’s third goal after laying on the assist for the second.
Over at the Stadio Olimpico, Lazio entertained the visit of AC Milan in a tough encounter. Lazio needed to win to close the gap at the top back to four points while Milan was chasing a place in the Europa League next season. Milan has been in good form recently, winning two of their last three matches, including a 2–0 win over Lazio’s neighbours, Roma. Milan continued that good form to comfortably beat a toothless Lazio missing strikers Ciro Immobile and Felipe Caicedo, 3–0. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored Milan’s second and was lucky that his penalty squirmed through despite the save by Lazio’s Thomas Strakosha.
Hakan Calhanoglu had given Milan the lead with a great strike that looped over Strakosha off a slight deflection. Ante Rebic carried on his great form with Milan’s third in the second half. Truth be told, Milan could have scored more than three. It was Lazio’s first defeat at home in the league. It looks like playing every three, four days is exposing Lazio’s lack of squad depth as they struggle to cope. We would never know what the title race would have been had the league ended regularly with Lazio playing once a week.
Inter, couldn’t capitalise to close the gap on Lazio and were beaten by Bologna. You can read about it here: https://medium.com/@rasfootballworld/article-71-inter-crumbles-again-7c592b64eaff. Since writing this article, it has appeared that Nicolo Barella missed the game through injury again. I feel Antonio Conte, his conditioning coach, Antonio Pintus and the medical team got to re-evaluate their methods because players keep getting injured from muscular injuries. Victor Moses was another to bite the dust in training after the Brescia match.
Atalanta, one of the in-form teams in the league, closed the gap to Inter to one point after a 1–0 win over Cagliari. The match was open between the two teams until the sending off of Cagliari’s Andrea Carboni. Cagliari could count themselves unlucky too when Giovanni Simeone’s superb curling strike was chalked off after a VAR review. Simeone harshly ruled to have handled the ball in the build-up. Like in the case of De Ligt, it looked more like ball to hand rather than hand to ball but the law is the law and the referee applied it. Atalanta couldn’t get a second goal to wrap up the match and nearly paid the price for it in injury time when Cagliari nearly fashioned out a chance on the counter-attack.
With Lazio and Inter struggling and the form, Atalanta is in, the side from Bergamo would feel confident of their chances of climbing up the table to third or even second. Napoli put their defeat to Atalanta behind them to beat Roma 2–1 at the San Paolo. The home team was dominant throughout with some sporadic threat from Roma. Henrikh Mkhitaryan had scored a great equaliser for Roma on the counter-attack but Lorenzo Insigne had the last word with a goal of beauty to win the game. This win meant Napoli drew level with Roma on points. Roma kept hold of 5th place in the league table by virtue of a better goal difference.
Milan, who had beaten Lazio a day before are two points away from both teams. Hellas Verona, another side chasing down a place in the Europa League slumped to a surprise 2–0 defeat to relegation-threatened, Brescia. Brescia’s Jesse Joronen was immense in keeping out waves and waves of Verona shots on goal. Brescia got three vital points to move off the bottom, two points away from SPAL. SPAL was roundly beaten by Sampdoria 3–0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. It was Sampdoria’s first back to back win since Claudio Ranieri took charge and big three points for the home team who are now 7 points away from Lecce.
Fiorentina has failed to win in any of their three matches since the restart but got a surprise 2–1 win over Parma away at the Ennio Tardini. Parma might have lost their last two matches but played well in both. All three goals in this game were scored from the penalty spot. Fiorentina was lucky to get their second penalty in the game after Matteo Darmian was judged to have handled the ball. Again the referee choosing to apply the letter of the law rather than use common sense. Erick Pulgar made it five penalties out of five this season with his two conversions in this game. Fiorentina kept up an unwanted record of conceding four penalties in as many matches for Parma to score. Crucial three points for Fiorentina, their first win in six matches.
Udinese buoyed by their 2–0 win over Roma the last time were looking odds on to claim three points again against Genoa. They were leading with nine minutes to go before a late, late show by Genoa meant that the Genoese side salvaged a vital point to move two points clear of Lecce. Lecce was involved in a topsy turvy game against one of the entertainers of the league, Sassuolo. Sassuolo has always shown this season a tendency to attack fluidly and score goals but keeping them out was a problem.
Sassuolo took the lead twice before being pegged back by Lecce, they took the lead again with twelve minutes to go before adding a fourth with seven minutes left to win 4–2. Lecce are left in 18th place but still with the hope of clawing themselves out of the relegation zone if they can start picking up points quickly.
lasagna 4th goal in 3 games. udinese looked odds on to win but genoa came from behind to win it late. back to back league victory for ranieri as samp coach, comprehensive win for them. 17 goals in 6 matches for Sassuolo. Topsy turvy game.
