Maurizio Sarri said he wanted to win the Rome derby more than a Conference League tie. And win the derby they didLazio let the side down on Thursday when they became the only Italian club to be eliminated from Europe all season. Serie A sent six teams through to continental quarter-finals for the first time this century, but the Biancocelesti’s defeat to AZ Alkmaar cost the league a clean sweep. Maurizio Sarri pointed to a congested calendar, saying his team was “probably not structurally ready for these competitions”.Was it that, or did their priorities simply lie elsewhere? In the same breath, Sarri had acknowledged “there’s less energy around the club when it comes to a competition like the Conference League”....
Two outsider managers in Maurizio Sarri and José Mourinho have the capital’s clubs going deep in Serie A’s top-four battleThe Scudetto is still heading to Naples, but for one weekend Serie A belonged to the city of Rome. On Friday night Lazio toppled league leaders Napoli at their own stadium. On Sunday, Roma beat the Juventus side who would be second if it weren’t for the 15-point penalty handed them at the start of this year.Both games followed a similar pattern in being settled by a single second-half goal. Lazio’s reward was to finish the weekend third in the table. Roma are one point behind them in joint-fourth. Continue reading...
Luciano Spalletti’s side are now 18 points clear in their Scudetto quest, with Milan, Inter and Juventus nowhere to be seenThe Stadio Carlo Castellani held some unhappy recent memories for Napoli. It was here that their title challenge unravelled last April, as a 2-0 lead over Empoli in the 80th minute became a 3-2 defeat. They were authors of their own demise back then, the equaliser arriving when goalkeeper Alex Meret dallied in possession and allowed Andrea Pinamonti to block an attempted clearance straight into his net.Could they self-destruct a second time? They held an identical 2-0 advantage on Sunday when Mário Rui earned a pointless red card, kicking out at Francesco Caputo. Instead of wobbling, Napoli became even more...
The former Italian premier lessens the romance but Raffaele Palladino has been the coaching find of the seasonOnly one Serie A team remains undefeated in 2023 and it is not the one you might assume. Napoli continue to swagger toward the Scudetto, 15 points clear at the top of Serie A, but they were beaten by Inter at the start of January. Monza drew with the Nerazzurri three days later and have not lost a game since 10 November.A 1-0 win over Bologna on Sunday lifted them into the top half of the table. They are level on points with Juventus in ninth and while that situation owes to the Bianconeri’s points deduction, Monza have won both head-to-head games. Not...
A tactical reshuffle failed to pay off for Milan’s manager, leaving recent calls, not least regarding Rafael Leão, open to questionAt the southern end of San Siro, Milan’s Ultras did their best to set a tone. “The champions of Italy welcome the champions of Arabia,” read the banner hung from that dizzyingly vertical second tier, reminding Inter counterparts at the far end that a Supercoppa victory in Riyadh could never mean as much as a scudetto.There was just one problem: nobody has seen Milan’s title-winning side since before the World Cup. The team who have taken the pitch in 2023 are the palest of imitations, familiar faces playing unrecognisable football. They had won one out of seven games so far...