You could hardly call it a dull round of fixtures. There were 10 goals scored in a single match at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, while Juventus saw their run of 33 consecutive home victories ended by Torino in the Derby della Mole. Tiny Crotone beat Pescara to make it 14 points from their past six matches – a run matched only by Napoli in Serie A.
But what did it all add up to? Not a lot, actually. This was the weekend when everything happened but nothing changed, a sad reflection of how little remains up for grabs this season. Lazio did seal their Europa League place by beating Sampdoria 7-3, but that has not truly been in doubt for some time. Juventus, conversely, will have to wait at least one more week to secure their sixth-straight Scudetto, but still hold a seven-point advantage with three games to go.
Crotone’s trajectory is the most bizarre. Aleksandar Tonev’s brilliant second-half strike earned them a 1-0 win away to Pescara and extended a run which borders on the implausible. The Calabrians have taken as many points from these past six games as they had from the previous 29, and yet remain four adrift of safety because the teams ahead of them have started winning as well.
Seventeenth-placed Empoli beat Bologna on Sunday – their third victory in four matches. The eight goals they have scored in that stretch represent almost a third of their season’s total. Sixteenth-placed Genoa, meanwhile, pulled out an upset at home to Inter. They had previously won just a single game in 2017 (and that against Empoli).
To what extent should we truly be surprised by all this? There is plenty of precedent for mid-table clubs like Bologna easing their feet off the gas once top-flight status is secured each year. But should we not expect more from Inter: a side that is, at least notionally, chasing a spot in Europe? And did Empoli’s previous two wins not come against the Nerazzurri’s direct rivals, Milan and Fiorentina?
One conclusion might be that these teams do not really want that final Europa League berth – a prize that would oblige them to cut down summer holidays and pre-season tours in order to start qualifying in July. Indeed, that precise suggestion was put to the Inter manager, Stefano Pioli, at his post-game press conference on Sunday.
“Are we running away from sixth place?” he mused. “No, the players would like to give more but they just aren’t managing it. What matters right now, though, is not to think about qualifying for Europe so much as finishing this season with a show of desire and pride.”
Yes, that would certainly be a starting point. Inter have taken two points now from seven games, a collapse that seemed unfathomable two months ago, as they basked in the glory of their 7-1 rout of Atalanta. Pioli fielded questions that day about whether his team could qualify for the Champions League. They have not won a game since.
You could say that Inter were unfortunate against Genoa. They did not look like a team that had quit as they pushed clumsily forwards in the first half, dominating the play but struggling to come up with anything more inspired in the final third than an occasional potshot from Eder or Geoffrey Kondogbia.
Eugenio Lamanna certainly had more to do in the Genoa goal than Samir Handanovic at the other end, even denying Antonio Candreva from the penalty spot in the second half. He had been tipped off by Danilo Cataldi, who played with the Inter winger at Lazio, as to which way the shot was likely to go.
The Milan clubs’ failings have been discussed in recent editions of this column, so there is not much to add when it comes to the big picture. Even so this felt like a new low for Inter. Their two points in seven matches since that Atalanta thrashing are the fewest of any team in the league.
Milan’s defeat at home to Roma was less surprising, even if the 4-1 final margin was damning. A section of the Rossoneri’s support seemed to be less upset by their own team’s performance than they were by Luciano Spalletti’s failure to get Francesco Totti on to the pitch for what would have been his last ever appearance at San Siro.
“The [Curva] Sud pays homage to our rival Francesco Totti,” read a banner hung by Ultras, and that same end of the stadium jeered loudly as the visitors used their final substitution to send on Bruno Peres instead. Roma were two goals up, with six minutes left to play, but Spalletti argued afterwards that he did not want to risk the result when his team is still fighting for second place.
No such tangible objectives were required for Torino in the derby. Two days after gathering with fans to commemorate the anniversary of the Superga air disaster, they came within seconds of a historic win at J-Stadium.
Torino had never before taken a point at this venue, but must have believed that they could grab all three as they tipped over into second-half injury time holding a 1-0 lead. This was a heavily rotated Juventus team, with just three starters carried over from the side that beat Monaco in the Champions League semi-final first leg, but the likes of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Mehdi Benatia and Juan Cuadrado could hardly be called cannon fodder.
Adem Ljajic’s goal for Torino was perfection, a free-kick that kissed the underside of the crossbar inches away from the left-hand upright. Sadly, Gonzalo Higuaín’s 92nd-minute equaliser was similarly unstoppable, drilled into the bottom corner from just inside the D.
For Torino, this was a painfully familiar story. Juventus have made a habit of leaving things late in the derby – requiring 93rd minute strikes from Andrea Pirlo andCuadrado, respectively, to win the corresponding fixtures in 2014 and 2015.
This one, though, felt especially cruel. Torino had survived for more than half an hour on 10 men, after Afriyie Acquah received a second booking for a sliding challenge on Mario Mandzukic in which he appeared to take the ball cleanly. Sinisa Mihajlovic, sent to the stands for his protests against that decision, would rage against both the officials and Sky Sport’s studio analyst Gianluca Vialli at full time.
“I’m not saying you have to agree with me,” said Mihajlovic after the former Chelsea and Juventus forward contended that Acquah was indeed guilty of a foul on Mandzukic. “I’m just saying that you, given that you’re on TV, need to be able to be impartial. We all saw that it wasn’t a foul, you’re the only person who’s saying it’s a foul. That’s all I’m asking of you, is to be even-handed in your assessments. You’re not being fair.”
The manager can expect a touchline ban as a consequence of his red card, perhaps even one that lasts the rest of this season. Torino will most likely finish in their current position, ninth, regardless. Serie A is all over bar the shouting. But there may be plenty of that all the same.
Talking points
If Mihajlovic’s post-match interview was colourful, then the one that Mehdi Benatia gave to Rai’s Calcio Champagne broadcast was brief and bizarre. The Juventus defender was in the middle of answering a question when he cut off and asked “who’s talking there behind?” He had allegedly heard the words “Moroccan piece of shit” being said into his earpiece. Although that audio feed never made it to the viewers at home, the reaction of the studio host Sabrina Gandolfi, who quickly stopped the interview citing interference, appeared to suggest she had heard the same thing.
It was another unwelcome story for Italian football, arriving just a week after Sulley Muntari walked out of Pescara’s defeat to Cagliari in response to being booked for protesting to the referee about racist abuse he had received from fans in the stands. And Mihajlovic also claimed to have been a target this Saturday. “We talk about racism in Italy only when it’s whites and blacks,” he said. “If it’s directed at a whole state then that’s fine. But I’ll wait for those who called me a gypsy. They can come and say it to my face. They know where I live, let’s see if they have the balls.”
Muntari, as you may have heard, did eventually have his suspension rescinded by the Italian Football Federation, but did not make it into Pescara’s team for the defeat to Crotone anyway. Zdenek Zeman explained the exclusion thus: “Up until Saturday he was suspended, so he didn’t train to play. Could it have been a symbolic gesture to play him anyway? I don’t pick my team with symbols. I stand in solidarity with him, but the players who are ready are the ones who play.”
Happy 30th birthday to Dries Mertens, who marked the occasion with two goals in Napoli’s 3-1 win over Cagliari. And found the time to play a prank on a photographer by hiding his phone (admittedly: not well) too.
Edin Dzeko pulled clear at the top of the scoring charts with a brace of his own in that win over Milan, giving him 27 league goals this season. Not everyone at Roma, though, is enjoying themselves. Spalletti responded to the criticism he received for not including Totti against Milan by saying that he regretted even taking the manager’s job in the first place. “If I could go back, I would never have come to manage Roma,” he claimed. “Here, people always talk about the same things.”
Results: Udinese 1-1 Atalanta, Chievo 1-1 Palermo, Empoli 3-1 Bologna, Genoa 1-0 Internazionale, Lazio 7-3 Sampdoria, Pescara 0-1 Crotone, Sassuolo 2-2 Fiorentina, Milan 1-4 Roma, Napoli 3-1 Cagliari, Juventus 1-1 Torino
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