Serie A: the strength of Inter, the shortcomings of Milan. Meanwhile Lazio and Juve…

There was an air of nemesis: Sarri, the man who entered Napoli’s history (also) for the scudetto lost in the hotel five years ago, could hand the title back to the Azzurri just as they were in the hotel, this time in Udine and not in Florence . Instead the circle hasn’t closed, the perfect revenge hasn’t been accomplished: Maurizio’s Lazio beat Sassuolo and now, to become champions of Italy, Spalletti’s players will have to get up from the sofa, leave the hotel and go onto the field at take at least one point. They will probably do it tonight, and in any case the problem is not if they will win the Scudetto, but when. Details.

Relevant weight

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Beyond the postponed Napoli party, Lazio’s victory has a significant weight in the race for the Champions League, on the eve of a weekend in which the six teams behind the Azzurri will all face each other. Yesterday, in a day that presented assorted pitfalls for anyone, only Milan and Rome lost ground. However, the aspect of those draws is different: Pioli left two points at home to an opponent close to Serie B, Cremonese; Mourinho fought it out in Monza against one of the most brilliant teams in the championship (the Brianza players came from three consecutive victories) even though he had half a team out. The other four have won and drawn a new ranking: Lazio and Juve have dug a small furrow with respect to the backstage, Inter has emerged behind them by detaching the competition, Roma does not give up, Atalanta arrives. Then there’s Milan – six points from five games – who missed an opportunity that can’t be thrown away at this stage of the championship, because nobody (rankings in hand) had a less tough commitment. Inter was the only one, among the six, to win as bosses.

In condition

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Verona’s is the fourth consecutive success, if we include the semi-final of the Coppa Italia against Juve; one gets the feeling that the Nerazzurri got in shape at the right moment, when every match is worth an important piece of the season. We have always maintained that Inzaghi has the widest choice of quality players: who else can afford to choose between Dzeko and Lukaku, Calhanoglu and Brozovic, Mkhitaryan and Barella? Perhaps only Juve has a staff comparable to this, only that Allegri has had to deal with serious injuries and assorted aches and pains from many stars. Inter’s six goals are also a warning for Milan in view of the Champions League, because the Rossoneri have reiterated against Cremonese that they live in an opposite situation compared to their cup rivals: other than a choice, if Pioli removes the starters they will start troubles. What Kalulu and Thiaw did on the occasion of Okereke’s goal is embarrassing and at that point not even Leao and Giroud were enough to overturn the result, thrown in in the last half hour to try to remedy De Ketelaere’s proven inconsistency and Origi. Juve, Lazio and Atalanta have won, but they have suffered. Or maybe it’s better to reverse the concept: they suffered, but they won. Because in the end it is normal that successes are achieved with difficulty, even if the ranking could suggest that certain results are almost obvious. It is not so.

Vlakhovic

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Take Juve, who faced Lecce entangled down there, below. There was nothing trivial in this confrontation, in fact the Apulians came close to 2-2 when the game was about to run out. Yet Allegri has at least three reasons to consider his Wednesday satisfactory: Vlahovic’s goal, who hadn’t scored in the league since 7 February; Paredes’ winning free-kick, his first goal (and perhaps his first appreciable play) since he’s been in Turin; the flashes of Pogba, who finally appeared in good physical condition, capable of a couple of shots from him, from those who hadn’t seen in those parts for seven years, since he had set off for Manchester. So the black and whites are back to winning ways after three defeats and one draw. The stain is the bad injury that happened to De Sciglio, a champion of bad luck. Not even Atalanta came out easily from the match against Spezia, now sucked in to all intents and purposes in the relegation zone. The Ligurians went ahead, then got back on track when the match seemed over. Gasperini still took the third win in a row. Like Lazio, in the race for the Champions League the Bergamo players have the advantage of not having to multiply their commitments because of the European cups; now that they have found the continuity of results never seen in the season, they are a threat to everyone.