Results from round 32:
Serie A table:
Goalkeepers make Empoli and Spezia happy
Empoli’s streak of winless games extended to 15, but the woes of teams behind leave them in a comfortable position.
A 0-0 against Spezia was enough for both teams to gain a point and pull a 12 and 11 points-lead respectively over Venezia and Genoa.
Ivan Provedel and Guglielmo Vicario were crucial in the goalless draw, with Empoli also struggling from attacking problems. They failed to score in six of their last nine games.
Embed from Getty ImagesInter back to their best
It had been some time, but Inter finally delivered a strong performance, against a team that proved tough to beat for all the top sides: Hellas Verona.
Inter were strong in the first-half, with strikes from Nicolo Barella and Edin Dzeko giving them consecutive league wins for the first time in the second round of games.
It looks like last week’s win against Juventus boosted the morale for Simone Inzaghi’s side, who need their absolute best should they bring a title challenge with their remaining seven games.
Juventus comeback with Cagliari to consolidate fourth place
Joao Pedro’s goal after 10 minutes scared Juventus, in a tight and composed performance that was all centred on pulling the goals back.
Matthijs De Ligt got one late in the first-half, with Dusan Vlahovic scoring his fifth league goal for the Bianconeri to deliver a win free of big emotions.
Juventus remain five points in front of Roma, whilst Cagliari get their fifth straight defeat. Fortunately for them, all their relegation rivals keep struggling.
Walter Mazzarri’s team will head towards an exciting end to the season, having to play all three teams sitting below them.
Embed from Getty ImagesImmobile hits with a hat-trick to dream for the ‘capocannoniere’ title
A hat-trick in a 4-1 away win against Genoa consolidated Ciro Immobile’s position at the top of the goalscoring chart of the Italian league. The Lazio striker has 24 goals, to Vlahovic’s 22.
Another win would make it a hat-trick of titles for Lazio, which would push him to second-best of all time.
Only Milan legend Gunnar Nordahl ever achieved more, with five titles in the 1950s. Immobile needs to keep scoring to win the fourth one and, maybe, look forward to further writing his name in history in the coming years.
Becao strikes late as Venezia suffer hard luck again
For the second consecutive game, Venezia lost with a goal in the last minute of stoppage time. Rodrigo Becao condemned the Lagunari to another defeat, their third one after the 90th minute in the last 10 games.
Fortunes do not seem to change for Paolo Zanetti’s side, who in the last five games have seen their team in front, Cagliari, always lose, yet they haven’t been able to close the gap by a single point.
Mission (almost) accomplished for Udinese, who increase their gap to 18th place to 14 points. Considering the trend, and the only 21 points Venezia have available, the Friulani can live relatively happy days.
Embed from Getty ImagesTraore is the new star, hitting poor Atalanta
Hamed Junior Traore has shined in the last seasons, but never had he been so influential as since the start of 2022. The 22-year-old Ivorian is living a golden period, having scored seven goals and provided an assist in his last nine games.
Traore even hit the post, as Sassuolo got their fifth win in the last seven games, 2-1 against Atalanta. Gian Piero Gasperini’s men do not seem to catch a break, as their tally on the first 13 games of the second round of games remains a shocking 13.
Atalanta looked strong title contenders on Matchday 17, coming from six consecutive wins to sit in fourth, three points shy of Inter. Now, everything is going down, even dropping outside of the European places, in eighth.
The Fiorentina curse hits Napoli again
A Fiorentina win at the Stadio Maradona has huge repercussions in the title race. Napoli lost 3-2, in what can prove to be a costly faux pas. It is not the first time Fiorentina prove lethal to Napoli’s dream, after the infamous episode of 2018.
Nico Gonzalez opened the scoresheet, before Dries Mertens scored a great goal, just after coming in. Napoli wanted to win it, but were punished twice by Jonathan Ikone and Arthur Cabral.
Victor Osimhen’s great volley wasn’t enough to deny a great Fiorentina side, who had merits for playing an open game and returning in the top seven, still in the hunt for a Europa League qualification.
Their stadium is not proving friendly for Napoli, who picked up five of their sixth defeats at the Maradona.
Roma’s efforts cancel out Radovanovic’s long-awaited joy
It took Ivan Radovanovic 99 shots to find his first goal in four years. The Salernitana midfielder opened his account this season with a stunning free-kick, with the complicity of a disunited Roma wall.
The visitors were up until late on, when Carles Perez equalised with another long-range stunner. It took Roma just a few more minutes to find a winner with Chris Smalling, denying the efforts of the team placed at the bottom of the Serie A.
Since matchday 22, Roma are the team that scored the most points. They might still be in the run for fourth, but require several slips from Juventus. What is more promising is that, after a troubled and inconsistent start, Jose Mourinho’s side are picking up regular points.
Milan struggle for goals again
Two quick and unexpected turnarounds lost Milan their potential advantage over Inter, who this matchday closed up to within two points, with a game in hand. Torino held on to fend off the leaders in a 0-0.
Milan got their sixth consecutive clean sheet in all competitions, but three of these games were goalless draws and all the others were 1-0 wins. At this stage of the season, Milan’s inexperience may be costing them points.
With a young squad, Milan may be unused to being in the position of title favourites and this is leading to a struggle in finding goals. With six games left to play, pressure is mounting and any prediction seems to be worthless, given how quickly the cards change.
Arnautovic returns on the scoresheet for Bologna
From Marko Arnautovic, to Arnautovic. Bologna ended a series of four games without finding the net, thanks to the player who last did.
The Austrian striker scored two goals to give Bologna a win over Sampdoria that moved them up to 12th place. It was another defeat away from home for Marco Giampaolo, with his side rarely proving dangerous.
Bologna even hit the post twice, one with Arnautovic, who is the leader for most woodwork struck this season, with six. They are also the side with the highest tally, with 19. Not a particularly lucky season, but this time, it wasn’t costly.
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