Unstoppable. The Napoli Conte also wins San Siro and runs away with a +7 lead over Inzaghi's Inter, the closest pursuer in the standings. Milan, slipped to minus 11 (but with one game less), all that remains is to complain about yet another game conditioned by defensive errors: the performance, all in all, was good, but certain carelessness is not admissible at these levels, especially when faced with opponents like the Azzurri. The midweek round will continue today with four more games, among which Empoli-Inter (18:30) and Juventus-Parma (20:45, the other two are Venezia-Udinese and Atalanta-Monza) stand out: Inzaghi and Thiago Motta absolutely cannot make mistakes, otherwise the possibility of Napoli escaping will become an absolute certainty.
Milan – Napoli 0-2: Lukaku and Kvara send Conte on the run, Rossoneri 11 points behind
Many were wondering how the Napoli in a direct clash and the answer came loud and clear: 0-2 at San Siro and goodbye to the competition. In front of us there was a Milan with many absences, forced to do without the flu-ridden Pulisic, but the stage and the stakes could have made anyone who wasn't adequately prepared tremble. This wasn't the case for the Azzurri, who actually approached the challenge much better, immediately finding the lead goal and thus putting the match on their favourite terrain. Conte doesn't pursue a particularly advanced style of football, but it can't be said that he isn't 100% effective: Lukaku's goal is the result of simple and precise ideas, aimed at getting the most regardless of the frills. However, Milan has its faults and quite big ones at that, capable of leaving the Belgian space to go deep, knocking down Pavlovic with a quarterback's shoulder and freezing Maignan after just 5'. A goal worthy of psychoanalysis, yet the Rossoneri reacted by forcing Napoli to a good 20 minutes of suffering, in which they almost equalized with Musah (twice) and Chukwueze. But in the 43rd minute, here comes the cold shower, or rather icy one, signed by Kvaratskhelia: the Georgian took the ball on the left, moved to the center and let loose a shot that went into the corner of Maignan's goal. Anyone who has seen Kvara play knows well that that is his favorite move, but the Rossoneri defense (goalkeeper included) seemed surprised, again for those unforgivable errors mentioned above. At the start of the second half, the Devils thought they had reopened the challenge with Morata, before swallowing the cancellation of the VAR for offside. The game, in fact, ended there, because if it is true that the Rossoneri were still dangerous with Leao and Pulisic (both substitutes in the 60th minute), it is also true that Napoli froze the result with a 5-4-1 without frills, aimed, in fact, at a very important victory, which has every appearance of being able to leave its mark on their championship.
Conte: “Not even a madman could have expected a start like this, but let's keep our feet on the ground”
"No one is hiding, we are not playing hide and seek," Conte pointed out. "But we are realistic, we are doing something incredible and unexpected, not even the craziest person could have imagined a start like this, but we must keep our feet on the ground. I am certainly not hiding, I have broad shoulders and I have achieved something in my career, we know well that our objective is first of all to return to Europe, given that we have not played in the cups after so many years. There are five or six teams that have the same idea as us of returning through the main door, but we are starting off with a rush, because we are coming off a season in which we finished 41 points behind the top of the table. These performances certainly fuel the fans' dreams, but Napoli is a warm environment and we must keep our feet on the ground. We prepared for this match with just one training session after playing on Saturday, I have to thank the staff and the players because I am very demanding, I really like everyone's availability. We must however be prepared for when the first setbacks come, but there is a great desire to give satisfaction to the fans."
Fonseca: “Goodbye Scudetto? No one wins or loses it after just nine games”
“I am always responsible for what happens on the pitch and this time I take this responsibility too – Fonseca's analysis -. It's not easy to start the match with a Napoli goal after five minutes, but if we look at the performance they scored two goals and we created the chances. The team had a good reaction at the start of the match, we played positive football with quality, it wasn't easy against a Napoli that dropped back and defended in front of its penalty area. My main concern is linked to the fact that we conceded goals that we can't concede against a team like Napoli. Then it's not easy to find spaces against ten players: we created, we had chances, only the goal was missing. We have to improve in the last decision, we played in their half of the pitch and we didn't allow Napoli to get out. Goodbye scudetto? No team has won or lost the championship after nine games, for this reason we must continue on the path of growth: clearly we will need results to enter this fight”.
Empoli – Inter (18:30 pm, Dazn)
Empoli and Inter will kick off the championship Wednesday, the first to take to the field alongside Venezia and Udinese. Needless to say, the Nerazzurri have only one result available, even more so after the result at San Siro which increased the gap from league leaders Napoli, now 7 points behind. But Inzaghi's team wants to win regardless of the standings: the regret for what happened on Sunday with Juventus is too strong, given that the final 4-4, in light of how it happened, looks a lot like a half-defeat. Inzaghi knows well that certain distractions are complicating the championship journey, also ruining the good things done so far. His Inter "failed" the direct clashes with Milan and Juve, at home to boot, but more generally they have conceded a whopping 13 goals in 9 games, 4 more than they conceded in the entire first half of last season. The problem is to understand why, given that the men are substantially the same: many think that it has something to do with the classic "full stomach" syndrome typical of the post-scudetto, which forces Inzaghi to work more psychologically than technically. The four black and white slaps should have been a wake-up call for the group, which is why it is reasonable to expect an attentive and concentrated Inter, even more so against a tricky opponent, but totally constipated within the friendly walls of the Castellani (zero goals scored in four games, but only one conceded).
Empoli – Inter, probable formations
Empoli (3-5-1-1): Vasquez; Goglichidze, Ismaili, De Sciglio; Gyasi, Henderson, Maleh, Anjorin, Pezzella; Fazzini; Colombo
On the bench: Brancolini, Seghetti, Tosto, Sambia, Cacace, Viti, Marianucci, Belardinelli, Grassi, Ekong, Haas, Solbakken, Pellegri, Konaté
Coach: D'Aversa
Unavailable: Zurkowski, Perisan, Ebuehi, Sazonov, Esposito
Disqualified: none
Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Zielinski, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Lautaro
On the bench: Martinez, Di Gennaro, Pavard, Palacios, Buchanan, Asllani, Dumfries, Frattesi, Taremi, Arnautovic, Correa
Coach: Inzaghi
Unavailable: Acerbi, Calhanoglu, Carlos Augusto
Disqualified: none
Juventus – Parma (20pm, Dazn and Sky)
Juventus also need 3 points, called to beat Parma for the same reasons, more or less, as Inter. Of course, the draw at San Siro was experienced in the opposite way to that of the Nerazzurri, either because the game seemed lost, or because of the difficult moment that the team is going through, always struggling with injuries to several big names. However, the fact remains that the Old Lady must return to winning ways and today's match offers a good opportunity: Pecchia's team, after a sparkling start, has run aground, collecting only 4 points in the last 7 days. Thiago Motta knows that the time has come to grit his teeth and put aside the foil, at least until the away match in Udine next Saturday: there, after Koopmeiners, recovered and already available today, there will also be Nico Gonzalez and, perhaps, Douglas Luiz, which will allow rotations without lowering the level, but first there is Parma and they must get to the bottom of it, one way or another. The result at San Siro requires victory, otherwise he will move further away from the top and the coach will try without giving up his footballing ideas, the true trademark of the house. The tight schedule requires rotations and he has already shown in the past (even in this first part of the Juventus season) that he is not influenced by names, even if injuries make his life particularly complicated. In other circumstances, for example, it would be time to give Vlahovic a breather, but the absence of a deputy excludes the possibility, at least for now.
Thiago Motta: “Let's forget Inter and think about Parma, I want more unity”
"I expect a different match to the one against Inter, we want to put in a great performance to get the result we hope for," Thiago Motta stressed. "We have to do well to increase our chances of winning. We did many things well in Milan, but in the first 15 minutes of the second half we had to do better and be more compact. Difficulties happen during a match, but this period cannot last too long, we have to be more compact. At San Siro we did very well in some moments, while in others we absolutely need to improve, uniting and staying in the match. The final part was on the up and we had the chance to win it, it was a great show, but that's the past. Everything we did in a positive way is worth remembering, but now we have to focus on Parma, it will be a complicated match. They are a very good team with interesting players and a coach who prepares the matches well, they defend well: it's a match we have to play at our best, especially in transition. Vlahovic? When I rest him we will see the opponent we will face and the characteristics he will have, there are several players who can play that role with different skills".
Juventus – Parma, probable formations
Juventus (4-1-4-1): Di Gregorio; Cambiaso, Danilo, Gatti, Cabal; Locatelli; Conceicao, McKennie, Thuram, Weah; Vlahovic
On the bench: Di Gregorio, Pinsoglio, Kalulu, Rouhi, Savona, Fagioli, Mbangula, Koopmeiners, Yildiz, Adzic
Coach: Thiago Motta
Unavailable: Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Milik, Bremer
Suspended: Pogba (until 11 March 2025)
Parma (4-2-3-1): Suzuki; Coulibaly, Del Prato, Balogh, Valeri; Keita, Sohm; Man, Bernabé, Mihaila; Bonnie
On the bench: Chichizola, Corvi, Hainaut, Estevez, Valenti, Leoni, Hernani, Camara, Haj, Di Chiara, Cancellieri, Almqvist, Charpentier, Benedyczak
Coach: Pecchia
Unavailable: Osorio, Kowalski, Circati
Disqualified: none
