Never before in this era of domestic domination have they established sole possession of first place so early in a campaignTime to release the confetti, pass out the champagne and discover what clunky social media pun Juventus have planned to follow on from #Le6end and #My7th. The Bianconeri are champions of Italy for the eighth consecutive year. Or so you might think, thumbing through some of the coverage of a weekend when they moved two points clear at the top.“There is no anti-Juve,” declared the front page of Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday. Inside the pink paper, Sebastiano Vernazza lamented: “Serie A seems to have become a close relative of the Belorussian league, where Bate Borisov have won for 12...
The title will go to Juventus again after Napoli’s impressive season faded but the fight for Europe and to survive is set to go down to the wireFor the seventh season running, Juventus will be champions of Italy. The Scudetto is not officially theirs just yet, but we are into the realm of technicalities. A 3-1 win over Bologna, accompanied by a draw for Napoli, extended their lead to six points with two games left to play.The first tie-breaker, head-to-head results, would be split with the Partenopei, since each beat the other 1-0 away from home. Next is goal difference, where Juventus are ahead by 16. Realistically, it will not come to that anyway. The Bianconeri’s final game of the...
Serie A matches were postponed after Davide Astori’s death on Sunday, casting Saturday’s dramatic results into insignificance It felt so all-consuming on Saturday night. A last-minute winner, a six-goal thriller, a title race turned on its head. Then a young man died, and suddenly it did not seem to matter at all.The passing of Davide Astori put all of Italian football into mourning. Genoa and Cagliari’s players were already on the pitch at Marassi, warming up for their lunchtime kickoff, when news filtered through. Several wept as they retreated to the changing rooms. An announcement that the match had been abandoned was met by the fans with applause. Related: Leader Davide Astori is fondly remembered as Serie A falls quiet...
Turkish forward reaps rewards from Eusebio Di Francesco’s new tactical approach with four goals in three gamesUdinese were served with ample notice of Cengiz Under’s threat. The Roma forward had scored three times in two games leading into his visit to the Stadio Friuli on Saturday but more explicit were the words of his manager. “He has this great quality of being able to line up his shot while still hiding it,” explained Eusebio Di Francesco. “Just like [Vincenzo] Montella used to do.”Forewarned but not forearmed. How does anyone prepare for something they cannot see coming? There were just under 70 minutes on the clock when Under took a pass a few yards outside the area, turned, glanced and in...
The warning signs were there for another Napoli implosion, but Maurizo Sarri’s side responded emphatically to beat LazioNapoli went into their Saturday night meeting with Lazio under real pressure. For a club with a recent history of implosions, this did not bode well. The last time they were involved in a serious Scudetto push, in 2015-16, they self-destructed at Udinese. Defeat that day meant they ceded crucial ground to eventual champions Juventus. Almost two years on, a similarly fateful performance seemed to be on the cards.All the warning signs were there. Juve had taken top spot with a win over Fiorentina on Friday, meaning Napoli had to beat third-placed Lazio in order to reclaim the initiative. They proceeded to go...