By Edoardo Stella
Results from round 38 of the 2020/21 season:
The final Serie A table:
Ranieri’s Sampdoria adventure ends in the best way
Sampdoria win 3-0 over Parma to conclude the year in a positive 9th place.
The Blucerchiati’s win means that Parma finish the year in last place, thanks to goals by Fabio Quagliarella, Omar Colley and Manolo Gabbiadini.
Coach Claudio Ranieri won’t be leading Sampdoria next season, but for sure all the fans will happily remember his spell.
Genoa’s win helps them gain places
Only six points separate 11th to 17th, but Genoa’s win over Cagliari helped them gain a few positions and end the year in 11th.
A goal by the Uzbek Eldor Shomurodov was enough to get past Cagliari and give them the first loss in eight games. Genoa were a positive surprise of the second part of the year, being one of four teams to never lose a game once they went up on the score.
Cagliari’s loss is harmless, as their come-back meant all pressure was relieved coming onto the last match.
Embed from Getty ImagesFiorentina’s negative year ends in disappointment
A 0-0 against Crotone wasn’t what Fiorentina wanted, as the team from Florence ended the year with their worst-ever points tally in a 38 matches season.
Crotone end the year with their third consecutive points-scoring result, even if they had a lot of chances to win the game.
It was a bitter season for both teams and this conclusion was just the representation for their year.
Inter make it 91 points
Inter finish the year with the 5th highest ever number of points in the Italian division. It was the 16th victory of the second-half of the season, which came thanks to another dominant display against Udinese, as the game ended 5-1.
Seven of Inter’s last eight wins prior to winning the title, came with a one goal margin. Possibly due to a psychological advantage, Inter’s wins after clinching the Scudetto were all by scoring more than three goals.
Ashley Young, Christian Eriksen, Lautaro Martinez, Ivan Perisic and Romelu Lukaku were on the scoresheets, as Eriksen ended Inter’s 118 games run without scoring a direct free-kick.
Verona’s resistance denies Napoli
It was all in Napoli’s hands. With a win, a top four place would have been in the bag. However, Gennaro Gattuso’s team found themselves against a very determined Verona side, who gave their all and stopped them to a 1-1.
Napoli struggled and it was almost a miracle that they went up on the score, with former Verona player Amir Rrahmani getting his first Serie A goal after a corner-kick.
They couldn’t keep it off and Davide Faraoni’s equaliser was enough to send Napoli down to the Europa League.
Sassuolo come short of a place in Europe
Sassuolo’s win against Lazio was heroic and it proved all of the Neroverdi’s determination to finish the season on a high.
They were the closest team to challenge the big sevens at the top of the table and only lost a place in the Conference League on goal difference against Roma.
Georgios Kyriakopoulos hit a stunner that opened the scores, with Domenico Berardi sealing the game with a great 2-0 win.
Embed from Getty ImagesMkhitaryan qualifies Roma thanks to goal difference
Spezia played a brilliant game against Roma and soon went up 2-0, despite Roma’s goalkeeper Daniel Fuzato making some great saves.
In what was coach Paulo Fonseca’s last game, Roma re-entered the pitch with a different approach and were able to salvage a place in next year’s Conference League.
Stephan El Shaarawy got his first goal since his return, but it took until the 85th minute, as Roma’s top performer this season scored. Henrikh Mkhitaryan qualified Roma with a +2 goal difference on Sassuolo.
Benevento say goodbye to the Serie A
The verdict came on Tuesday, as Torino scored a point in their game in hand, which meant that any hope of remaining in the league was already over for Benevento.
The two teams occupying 17th and 18th place faced each other, as the game ended in 1-1, thanks to goals from Gleison Bremer and Andres Tello.
Benevento were off to a promising start of the season, but are relegated for the second time in two participations in the Serie A, as Torino just remain up with their worst year since they last got promoted in 2012-13.
Juventus finish in the top four after a difficult season
The decision not to start Cristiano Ronaldo was somewhat surprising, as Juventus needed to win against Bologna to hope for a place in the top four.
In reality, Juventus asserted their dominance quite quickly and comfortably moved past their opponents with a 4-1. Federico Chiesa, Adrien Rabiot and Alvaro Morata, who netted a brace, ensured that Juventus’s season wasn’t as bad as it could get.
After giving up the supremacy at the top of the Serie A, there was a serious worry they could even miss out on the Champions League qualification.
Milan get past Atalanta with the record of away-wins.
Milan’s 16th away win of the season, an overall record for the top five leagues, leads them back to a top four finish for the first time in eight seasons.
It was a tough clash against Atalanta, but Milan were up for it and won the game with two penalties converted by Franck Kessie. The Ivorian was a leader of this team, scoring many penalties but rarely failing to impress with his presence in midfield.
Milan’s away record was impressive, scoring 49 points, 10 more than league leaders Inter.
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