Escape tests. The Napoli beats Como in the Friday advance and escapes to +4 on the Juventus, although waiting for the black and whites to face the Cagliari. The acceleration of the Azzurri is evidently completely partial, but in the meantime Conte is certain to go into the break as the top of the table, and alone at that. This is no small feat, given that it will force the competitors to respond with the same coin in their respective matches, starting with theInter of Inzaghi, awaited by the "uncomfortable" advance with the Torino (20pm, the others are Udinese-Lecce e Atalanta-Genoa).
Napoli – Como 3-1: Conte runs away with McTominay, Lukaku and Neres
Victory had to be and victory it was, even if much less easy than expected. Como, especially in the first half, proved to be a tough nut to crack, trained very well by Fabregas (the Arsenal-Barcelona mould, after all, doesn't lie) and full of quality interpreters, Nico Paz above all. The Azzurri had made it look easy by finding the lead after just 26 seconds with McTominay, but in reality the lightning goal took away a bit of the bite from Conte's team, suspended between the search for the double and the defense of the 1-0. The Lariani thus found courage and geometry, coming close to equalizing twice with Nico Paz (I shot just wide and hit the post) and then reached him with Fatigue, author of a billiard shot from distance just before half-time (43'). Napoli, evidently well-rehearsed by Conte, returned to the field in the second half with a very different attitude, determined to win the match and defend their lead in the standings. The right episode came almost immediately with Olive to steal the ball from Sergi Roberto and earn a well-deserved penalty, converted by Lukaku with his usual coolness (53'). From then on, the game went downhill and the Azzurri flirted with the 3-1 several times, only to then celebrate with the substitute Neres, who confirmed himself as the “match-breaker” par excellence (86').
Conte: “We were good, at the beginning of the season it was difficult to imagine a start like this”
“We did our duty, but if at the beginning of the year they had asked me to have a performance like this, it would have been difficult to think that all this could happen – the satisfied comment of Tale -. However, I think we have been good and that this is the result of the hard work we are doing, of the availability of these guys and of our desire to work. We know that there is a lot of expectation in this beautiful and important place, and we want to give them some good games. The growth of the players is fundamental, the answers they give me when they enter the field, like in this game, leave me truly satisfied. We want to continue on this path, improving every day and maintaining high competitiveness within the team”.
Inter – Torino (20pm, Dazn and Sky)
The first pursuer to take the field will be theInter of Inzaghi, awaited by the treacherous advance of San Siro against the Torino. The Granata, so far, have been the authors of an excellent championship and the defeat against Lazio does not erase it; therefore, the Nerazzurri will have to be very careful and repeat the approaches already seen with Udinese and Stella Rossa, certainly not those with Monza and Milan. Inzaghi and his men seem to have understood the lesson, but the counter-proof could come this evening: the stakes, after all, are important, because 3 points would allow the Nerazzurri to stay in the slipstream of league leaders Napoli, as well as adding further pressure on the shoulders of Juventus e Milan, engaged tomorrow against Cagliari e Fiorentina. The Inter coach, who was silent yesterday, knows the pitfalls of the match well, which is why he rotated against Red Star (rightly so, given the result) keeping his best players for this evening. Compared to Tuesday, as we will see shortly, there will be five changes, which says a lot about Inter's intentions to "devour" the match, just like last season. For its part, Toro will try to play it and, who knows, ruin Inzaghi's plans, even knowing that the mountain to climb will be quite high.
Inter – Turin, the probable lineups
Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Lautaro
In bench: Martinez, Di Gennaro, Pavard, De Vrij, Palacios, Dumfries, Carlos Augusto, Zielinski, Asllani, Taremi, Arnautovic, Correa
Coach: Inzaghi
Unavailable: Buchanan, Stretcher
Disqualified: nobody
Torino (3-5-2): Milinkovic-Savic; Walukiewicz, Coco, Masina; Lazaro, Tameze, Ricci, Ilic, Sosa; Adams, Zapata
On the bench: Paleari, Donnarumma, Bayeye, Linetty, Maripan, Vojvoda, Pedersen, Karamoh, Dembele, Gineitis, Sanabria, Balcot, Vlasic
Coach: Vanoli (suspended, Godinho on the bench)
Unavailable: Schuurs, Ilkhan, Ciammaglichella, Nije
Disqualified: nobody