Milan slumped at home to Sassuolo, while Monza rocked Juventus. Is there anyone who can now stop Napoli?By the end, it felt like a cup final: two teams playing as if everything needed to be settled right here. One moment Roma’s keeper, Rui Patricio, was making a save at his near post and the next he was sprinting toward the opposite goal, joining the attack for a corner. As teammate Gianluca Mancini’s final attempt on goal was blocked, Napoli players spilled from the dugout punching the air, yelling, embracing.Why should it matter like this? José Mourinho had told us on Saturday that the Serie A title race was already over, offering his congratulations. “I don’t want to be misinterpreted …...
Against Atalanta, the show went on after the announcement of a severe penalty but so much remains uncertainFor a couple of hours, Juventus allowed themselves to forget. The buildup to their game against Atalanta had been overshadowed by news of a 15-point penalty, a punishment nobody saw coming. Even the prosecutor leading the case against them had only asked for nine.Anger at that decision was palpable inside the Allianz Stadium. The Serie A anthem was loudly whistled and the positioning of league-branded materials on the pitch before kickoff met with hostile chanting. A banner hung by fans on the gates outside read: “Serie A or Serie B, we are always here. Only for Juventus FC.” Continue reading...
Farewells for Chiellini and possibly Perisic as Inter won a compelling showpiece featuring two penalties and a red cardBy the end of the night at the Stadio Olimpico, we had seen it all: six goals, two penalties, a red card given and another that probably should. A cup final edition of the Derby d’Italia, played out over 120 messy but captivating minutes and followed up with immediate breaking news. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus’s captain, announced he was leaving the club. Ivan Perisic, the match-winner for Internazionale, suggested he could soon be moving on too.The stakes had been clear before kick-off. For Juventus this was a last chance to salvage a disappointing season. The rehiring of Massimiliano Allegri as manager last summer...
Juventus were incensed as the Serie A champions took their first away Derby d’Italia victory since 2012The Derby d’Italia was only 34 minutes old, but already we had seen blood, sweat and tears – and that was just Manuel Locatelli. The game had barely begun when Lautaro Martínez’s high boot caught the Juventus midfielder in the face, opening a gash above his left eye. Locatelli soldiered on, only to injure his knee while raising his own studs into a challenge on Danilo D’Ambrosio.Some journalists speculated that he might have ruptured his cruciate ligament as they saw him hobble to the sideline weeping. Perhaps Locatelli is just a man willing to share his emotions. He cried on the pitch after scoring...
A home defeat by Atalanta and an investigation into transfers rounded off a dreadful week for The Old LadyAfter losing 4-0 to Chelsea, Juventus’s week only went downhill. Tuesday’s Champions League drubbing was followed up by another loss at home to Atalanta on Saturday. In-between, the club’s offices were raided by police, who seized documents relating to player transfers and financial accounts.A statement from the Turin prosecutor Anna Maria Loreto explained on Friday that these searches were part of a wide-reaching investigation. The present focus, she explained, was to assess whether Juventus, a publicly listed company, had issued false communications to investors and invoices for non-existent transactions. But Loreto noted that further matters were also under scrutiny, including services offered...