Only Lazio laughsSunday of big surprises in Serie A, with the Biancocelesti the only winners among the big teams, compared to defeat of Milan in Florence and the Juventus and Roma draw against Cagliari and Monza. The championship thus ends with Napoli in command and Inter in second place, while the others (excluding Lazio) must deal with the usual ups and downs that prevent, for one reason or another, real dreams of glory.
Fiorentina – Milan 2-1: the Rossoneri sink after missing two penalties
Let's start from the end, that is, from the postponement between Fiorentina e Milan. To the Franchi, as expected, went on stage a game crazier than ever, with two teams facing each other openly without any interest in the defensive phase. The result was Fireworks evening, accomplices the three (!) missed penalties out of as many conceded, two from the Rossoneri (Theo Hernandez e Abraham) and one from the purple (Kean): this is a historic record, on par with Inter-Verona in 1991/92, which contributed to further shuffling the cards.
In the end, it was Palladino's men who smiled, dragged by one De Gea extraordinary and from the goals of the former Judicial (35') and Gudmundsson (73'). Milan returns home with the second consecutive defeat after the one in Leverkusen, but if there were mostly applause, this time it's different. The defensive phase cries out for vengeance and the discussion goes beyond the goals conceded, although absolutely unacceptable for those aiming for the Scudetto: Gudmundsson's goal, in particular, comes from a clearance by De Gea "pierced" by Tomori, moreover at a key moment of the match. The positive effects of the derby, in short, seem to have already vanished, because if it's true that Fonseca won't spend another break at risk of dismissal, it is also that the critics have returned to grumble heavily. The ones that were not very convincing were also the training choices, initial (some players seemed to have flat tires after the German trip) and ongoing (the substitutions of Leao and Pulisic, among the best up to that point), in a “roller coaster” Milan, which continues to give the impression that you can win or lose against anyone.
La Fiorentina, for his part, rejoices and enjoys the second victory of his championship after the one with Lazio: Palladino can rejoice, but he will have to understand why he got 6 points against two big teams compared to 4 in the remaining matches against Parma, Venezia, Monza, Atalanta and Empoli.
Fonseca: “Not very careful in defense, if you then miss two penalties it’s difficult to win…”
“Up until today we had done well, here it was a defensive aggression problem – he justified himself Fonseca -. When we miss two penalties and concede goals like that it is difficult to win, even if you create many opportunities. It is difficult to explain the goals we conceded, for me it was a lack of aggression and rigor in closing the spaces. changes for Leao and Pulisic? I took Rafa off because I wanted more depth with Okafor, while I was afraid of Christian's flexor problem that he had during the week. The penalties? I love this sport and I don't want to contribute to this circus, nowadays every little contact is a penalty, but football is not like that. In any case, Our penalty taker is Pulisic, I don't know why the players changed their minds on the pitch: I spoke to them and said that It must never happen again".
Juventus – Cagliari 1-1: Bianconeri outwitted in the final minutes, Conceiçao sent off
The other sensational result of Sunday is that of the Stadium, where the Juventus by Thiago Motta is stumbled upon Cagliari by Nicola. The1-1 final, in fact, it feels like a joke, both because it arrived a few minutes from the 90th minute and because of what happened before with Vlahovic, protagonist of a grotesque mistake which would have sealed the 2-0, therefore the victory of the Lady. Instead the missed tap-in by the Serbian (shot out a few steps from the beaten goalkeeper) kept the Sardinians alive, the rest was done by Douglas Luiz with the silly foul on Piccoli which induced the referee and VAR to decree the strictness then transformed by Marine (88'). The penalty spot was the protagonist in the lunch match in Turin, as Juve also went to the penalty spot: Luperto's arm touched it and Vlahovic's transformation, with his fifth consecutive goal between the league and the Champions League (15').
Juve, designed by Motta with the classic 4-2-3-1 full of surprises (Yildiz out, Mbangula in), seemed to be able to close the game in the first half, but as the minutes passed he ended up losing a bit of his bite, perhaps contenting himself with managing the 1-0. Vlahovic, as previously mentioned, has the failure to double the Bianconeri's lead on his conscience, while the Cagliari, without creating particular problems for Di Gregorio, had the deserve to stay in the game, taking advantage of yet another mistake by Douglas Luiz: the Brazilian, just like in Leipzig, committed a penalty a few minutes after entering the field, confirming all the difficulties that have downgraded him from a summer signing (50 million) to a market "case". In the final stages, Juve tried to win it, but were sunk by theConceiçao expelled for a second yellow card, the last one for simulation (excessive decision: the contact with Obert, even if too light to give a penalty, had been there). And when the same rossoblu defender hit the post in full recovery, the bianconeri broke out in a cold sweat and understood that a point, even if mocking, is better than nothing.
Thiago Motta: “We had to close the game. Conceiçao? A precedent has been set”
“Already after the goal we tried to control the race and attempted to manage the match in a way that we shouldn't have done – he sighed Thiago Motta -. We had to continue attacking and instead we didn't close the match, allowing Cagliari to come back thanks to a penalty. TheVlahovic's mistake? These are game situations that happen and will happen again, there are other aspects in which we must do much better to compete and continue to grow along the way. After the lead we tried to manage, but in Serie A all the games are complicated and we left the opponents the chance to get back into the game, we were unable to close the game. Theexpulsion of Conceiçao? I haven't seen the images, but if it's a simulation, it's right. I repeat, I have to see but I trust the referee, but now a precedent is opened and it must always be like this: there are no interpretations".
Lazio – Empoli 2-1: the Biancocelesti fly into the Champions League zone with Zaccagni and Pedro
Fourth consecutive victory for Baroni's Lazio, who after Dynamo Kiev, Torino and Nice also beat D'Aversa's Empoli, who until yesterday were still unbeaten. The Biancocelesti thus climb to fourth place in the standings, tied with Juventus who will be the next opponent after the break for the national teams, just 3 points behind the leaders Napoli. A record even higher than Lotito's expectations, but far from coincidental: the Baroni's team plays great football and if it is true that he always gives something to his opponents, it is also true that he scores in bursts. To make the definitive leap in quality, numbers in hand, the away performance must be improved, because if the Biancocelesti only played at the Olimpico they would fight for the scudetto.
The match against Empoli was tricky, partly because of the solidity of the Tuscans (until yesterday only two goals conceded and no defeats), partly because of the post-Europa League fatigue, always a factor when playing on Thursday and Sunday. To complicate things, they got involved Provedel, author of a wrong exit which has brought about the 0-1 by Esposito after just 9'. Weather in Zaccagni got his teammates back on track just before half-time (45+4'), but when Castellanos had a penalty saved by Vasquez (51'), many thought it was a bad day. However, the serenity was restored at the Olimpico Pedro with the splendid right of the definitive 2 - 1 (84'), thus giving Baroni a break right in the Champions League zone.
Baroni: “If we play like this we can raise the bar”
"Congratulations to the boys, it was a difficult match against an opponent who I knew would force us to attack with a full defence, many teams struggled a lot with them – the analysis of Baroni -. We played a great game, we went down due to the pitch's fault because after the downpour three days ago Ivan lost his foot and we also missed a penalty. However, the boys have played with feeling, this stadium is always wonderful, there is a great feeling with the fans: I said it at the first conference, this team must play for the people, but not to be a sycophant. I like this aspect, I want a team that transfers this ability to spend itself even beyond the limits, from a physical and nervous point of view we have succeeded. You can raise the bar of work and of conviction, we are hungry and the team must always have this hunger".
Monza – Roma 1-1: Dany Mota freezes Juric, but the Giallorossi miss a penalty
Juric's Roma fails to restart, stop on the draw from Nesta's MonzaThe Giallorossi coach had compared this challenge to a "small final", but his team was unable to win it: the1-1 is too tight both for the chances had and for the standings, still far from the company's ambitions. Of course, the balance at the top is total and the Champions League zone is only 3 points away, yet this team gives the impression of being too fragile to reach it. After the break there will be the challenge with Inter and there we will understand something more about the consistency of the Giallorossi, but the feeling is that a decisive change of pace will be needed to start again seriously. And to think that Roma, after a first half in control but with few chances (except for Koné's post), had managed to unlock the balance thanks to a great goal by Dovbyk, who was very good at getting rid of Izzo and beating Pizzignacco after skipping three opponents (61'). In short, the bulk of the game seemed to be done, especially since Nesta's Monza, still without a win and with a shaky bench to say the least, certainly didn't give the impression of being able to reopen it. But at 70' here is Svilar's uncertainty on a cross from Carboni and the rapacious tap-in by Dany Mota Carvalho, to the second illustrious goal after the one against Inter a few weeks ago. Everything to be done again and Roma would also have the opportunity to succeed, if it were not for the fact that the referee La Penna and, above all, Aureliano at the VAR made themselves escape a rather obvious penalty for a foul by Kyriakopoulos on Baldanzi.
Ghisolfi and Juric in chorus: “We lack a clear penalty, we want respect”
“I don't usually come to talk about refereeing, but it's unacceptable, everyone saw, it was a penalty – thundered the ds Ghisolfi -. Why didn't the VAR intervene? I I ask for respect for my coach, for my players, for the Roma fans. There is a lot of frustration in the locker room, we have not yet had any explanations, as soon as we have the chance to ask them we will understand what happened”.
“Normally you win these matches easily, but right now it's going like this and the penalty not given completes the work – Juric added -. My Roma played a great match controlling and creating many goal opportunities. Surely you have to become better and put it in, but we conceded very little. I saw a really beautiful team, in three league games we got 7 points, 9 would have been fair”.