Juve, the Champions League is 4 points away even with the penalty

We have to get there on April 19, the hearing at the Coni Guarantee College to discuss the annulment or not of the 15-point penalty in the standings, and we have to see how it will go. Of course there are almost three weeks of breathless matches in between in which it is prohibitive to imagine a clear path, but given the march that Juve is holding (eighth victory in the last nine league games), Coni could even get there already with a placing from European qualification, despite the -15.

The bills

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Playing early and having one more game, except Atalanta and Inter, has an undoubted cosmetic effect on the table, which is partially illusory. The fact remains that after Verona Allegri was able to go to bed looking at the rankings with a smile: -3 from sixth place Roma which is worth the European qualification, -4 from Milan currently fourth in the standings and therefore with the crosshairs on your back if you aim for the area Champions. Juve hadn’t been so close to qualifying for the Europe that counts since September, since the defeat against Monza, but then without the ballast of -15. In addition, second-placed Lazio are 8 points away, which next Saturday’s direct match could reduce, beyond the consideration that Juve have so far scored 7 points more than Sarri on the field.

The two rivals

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There are a couple of teams whose assessments change: because they played early like Juve, and therefore are tied in matches, and because challenging them will be a good crossroads in the coming weeks. First of all, Atalanta, +4 behind the black and whites: there is a lot of talk about Juventus’ terrible April, but one week in May we will have to go to Bergamo, and who knows who will look down on the other. And then Inter are in free fall, and it might not be good news for Juventus to find them in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday with so much to prove after their three consecutive league defeats: finding them won’t change the gap in the standings, but it’s one of those challenges that sets a different tone to everything else. As the Juventus success at San Siro just did before the break.