Juve and Milan, the lesson has not been learned

What could be a fan’s worst nightmare? Seeing the other team in the city celebrate the championship in a derby played at home and also having to endure the celebration and teasing of their old rivals. If it is a championship that even gives a second star chased by both clubs then we are faced with sadism and football torture. And this is what the AC Milan fans could suffer in the derby on April 21st which could give Inter their twentieth scudetto with 5 games and more than a month before the end of the championship. Provided that Inter don’t win it first, if Juve and Milan were to continue to accumulate a gap that already today places them -15 and -16 respectively behind the Nerazzurri. The victory against Genoa, the ninth in a row, is yet another pearl of a championship dominated by Inzaghi’s team which is speeding towards a twentieth championship full of records and beautiful things. A triumphal gallop that currently has numbers even higher than those recorded by Napoli who had asphalted everyone last year. The gap is now almost humiliating for the opponents. The seasons of the teams take on the contours of quality or failure also based on the behavior of the other teams. There is no doubt that at the moment the glass of Milan, who exited the Champions League groups and the Italian Cup and never in the running for the Scudetto, is three quarters empty. To fill it and quench its thirst a little, we need to win the Europa League and perhaps finish second in the championship, reducing the sidereal gap from Inter. Jerry Cardinale this week, regardless of the boomerang effects of certain declarations in view of next season, was clear: “Ibra and I are not satisfied, we will change all areas of the club to return to being first”. Pioli and many more and less important players in the squad are trembling. Juve for its part, after having been laboriously attached to the Inter bandwagon, collapsed at the most beautiful moment: only 5 points in the last six matches and a defensive wall with holes. Allegri, who will also play in a semi-final of the Italian Cup against Lazio, for his part is keen to always remember that the objective (minimal or not, it matters little) of the club this year was not to win the Scudetto but to return to the Champions League, a result which would have also been achieved last season if there had not been the penalty. But hearing the coach make calculations on the current distance between Juve and fifth in the standings, instead of encouraging him to at least reach second place, is a speech that doesn’t seem like Juve. However, what weighs on the opinions on Pioli and Allegri, on Milan and Juve is not only the enormous gap from steamrolling Inter, but that history is repeating itself for the second year in a row. In fact, last season the same script was played out, with Napoli as the protagonist who won the championship with 90 points. In fact, Juventus had finished on 72 points (62 considering the penalty) 18 points behind Spalletti’s team and Milan on 70 points, 20 less than the Italian champions. Compared to the 27th matchday of 2022-2023, Juventus now have one more point, Milan even 8, but they are still very far from the top and could potentially finish in the standings further away than last year. In summary, beyond the small or medium improvement compared to themselves, nothing has changed regarding who will win. On the contrary, Inter, who finished last year with 72 points (-18 from Napoli), this year achieved the same points in just 27 matchdays and were already 15 points behind the second place with the Scudetto in their pocket after 11 rounds. from the end. Not winning the championship for two years in a row happens to many important clubs, but for Juve and Milan to risk finishing 18-20 points behind the first twice is a defeat and the demonstration that there has been no real growth. And it could cost coaches and players dearly.