Milan fails to secure third place, Napoli and Inter are closing in on it. In summary, this is what Sunday football leaves us with, ça va sans dire, from the lowest step of the podium downwards. Which at this point is increasingly disputed: in addition to the Milanese and Benitez's men, Udinese, Sampdoria, Lazio and, why not, Fiorentina should not be forgotten. In short, the fight to the final Champions League position promises to be exciting and fought to the end, thanks to a rather level average quality of the championship.
The match that promised the most entertainment was that of San Siro, instead Milan and Fiorentina challenged each other more with the fear of losing than with the desire to win. Rare scoring chances for two teams that have tried a lot to maneuver and a little shot on goal. De Jong's goal (25') arrived on Milan's only one in the first half, good at putting a nice corner kick into practice, which seemed to put the match downhill. Instead, in the second half, the Viola raised their center of gravity by finding an equalizer with Ilicic, left to kick undisturbed from 25 meters after a wrong disengagement by De Sciglio. At that point the Rossoneri tried to crush Fiorentina but the formation chosen by Inzaghi (4-3-3 with Menez fake nueve and Torres on the bench) ended up lobotomizing the manoeuvre. It is no coincidence that the Rossoneri coach, in the final minutes, tried to shuffle the cards by inserting the Spaniard and Bonaventura in place of the French and Poli but by then it was too late. “I'm sorry for the result, we could have finished the match earlier – thought Inzaghi. – We can still improve but what matters is that we are in the running for third place”.
Just like Napoli, who returned to winning in the league after the bad European parenthesis. But the resounding success against Verona (6-2) shouldn't be misleading: the Azzurri had a bad time! Suffice it to say that, after just 20 seconds, the guests were already ahead thanks to Halfredsson, whose long-range torpedo beat the innocent Rafael. Thus began yet another uphill race for Benitez, who this time however found a Napoli ready to react. After an onslaught in the first half (with a few worries too many in defence), the Azzurri found an equalizer and advantage with Hamsik (44' and 58'), thus breaking free from a fast that began last May 11th. All finished? Not a chance. Verona retaliated immediately and Nico Lopez, put in by Mandorlini in place of Sorensen, invented the equalizer with a splendid personal action (67'). But at that point, with San Paolo on a war footing, Gonzalo Higuain took the chair. Pipita, who was also unsuccessful in the league, unloaded his right-footed shot on goal to make it 3-2 (68'), then decided to take the ball home, also scoring the fifth (84') and sixth (90') goals, this last on penalty. In the middle the "usual" flicker of Callejon (76') for a 6-2 final which demonstrates the double face of Napoli: spectacular in attack, shaky in defence.
In any case, the only thing that mattered was victory, just like for Inter. The nerazzurri raised their heads after a terrible week by taking Cesena thanks to a penalty from Icardi. The key episode takes place in the 32nd minute: Hernanes launches Palacio face to face with Leali, the goalkeeper landslides on the Argentine causing Mazzoleni to whistle for a penalty and expulsion. Otherwise usual Inter, lackluster in front and flickering behind. Cesena, despite the numerical inferiority, played it out by nearly equalizing twice with Marilungo. However, it is difficult to expect more from a team that is still recovering: in this sense, Wednesday's match will be very interesting, when Mihajlovic's Sampdoria arrives at San Siro. “The boys felt the pressure, we needed this success – admitted Mazzarri. – I appreciated the desire they put on the field, now we have to grow”. Victory also blessed by Thohir, who heartened the coach from Jakarta: "I have faith in his work and in that of the management, I hope the team can achieve its objectives".
