All turned upside down. The victories of Napoli and, especially, Lazio, cause the ranking to undergo a sensational jolt, with Milan dropping from third to fifth place. Yeah, why now at 66 there are the Rossoneri, the Azzurri and Juventus: with 3 teams on equal points you look at the goal difference and that, to date, rewards Gattuso and Pirlo compared to Pioli. Of course, in order to have the ranking detached (definitive criterion) we will have to wait for the last direct clash that is still missing from the appeal, or rather the one between the Lady and the Devil, scheduled for Sunday 9 May at 20.45. Meanwhile, however, the situation is this and therefore sensational.
At the moment, in fact, the winter champion team is in fifth place, beaten beyond any reasonable expectation by a gritty Lazio, determined to win the "Champions play-off". Mission accomplished, also thanks to a sensational referee error by Orsato, guilty of not canceling Correa's second goal, born of an obvious (and not surprisingly reported by the Var) foul by Lucas Leiva on Calhanoglu. An important episode, which features a much-talked-about referee, especially since the Var existed, but reducing Lazio's 3-0 to just this would be at least ungenerous, because the biancocelesti deserved to win the match and thus reach 61 points, with one game less than the competitors (against Turin, they will recover on 18 May).
"We allowed Lazio to do what they prefer, which is to wait and restart with quality: instead we had to have the skill not to concede goals or take the lead - the analysis of Pioli – It's clear that with 2-0 the match changed, I don't understand how the referee didn't whistle for a foul on the Leiva-Calhanoglu contact… The Champions League race is getting very complicated now, we have to get up and show what we're worth”.
“The boys were very good – he replied Inzaghi – For us it was like a final, it was the last chance to stay attached to the first places and we usually play these matches like this. It was a clear, landslide victory. The Leiva-Calhanoglu contact? I'm sorry to hear about an episode after a race like this."
The match promised entertainment and expectations were met right from the start. Lazio unlocked it immediately with Correa, good at throwing himself into space, dribbling past Donnarumma and hitting the net, finding the right coordination just when he seemed to have lost it (2'). An ideal start for Inzaghi's team, which in fact had the opportunity to double with Immobile, before withdrawing the center of gravity and giving itself up a bit to Milan, which however proved to be ticked as usual. Bad Mandzukic, launched as a starter for the first time in the league: the former Juve moved in a cumbersome way, preventing the team from realizing the amount of game produced.
The Rossoneri, after having breathed a sigh of relief for a goal disallowed by Lazzari for offside by centimetres, tried to increase the engine revs, but in the 51st minute the offending episode occurred: a foul by Leiva on Calhanoglu, Orsato continued and Luis Alberto throws Correa, who finds the 2-0 after missing Tomori. Obviously irregular intervention, so much so that Var Mazzoleni called his colleague back in front of the monitor, without however being able to change his decision.
There Milan definitively dissolved, so much so that Lazio first came close to 3-0 with Property, whose lob hit the crossbar, then found it with Ciro himself, cold in beating Donnarumma and certifying a very heavy success, perhaps even vital for the Biancocelesti's European ambitions.
Similar speech also for the Napoli, which by conquering Torino it even finds itself in third place, by virtue of a better goal difference than Juventus and Milan. The match against the grenades was by no means a given, especially after the victory of Cagliari, which forced Nicola's team to score points. But the Azzurri confirmed their excellent form, already demonstrated in the previous two months, where they had collected 6 victories, one draw and only one defeat in 8 games. The seventh arrived in less than a quarter of an hour, with Bakayoko (11') and osimhen (13') to clock in, thus knocking out Toro.
Napoli could have scored at least two more goals already in the first half, not to mention the chances they had in the second, but the usual tendency to look too much in the mirror got the better of them, preventing them from rounding off the result and thus saving some energy. However, it is not the case to ask for the moon: the Azzurri are back in the Champions League area and the role of pursuers, far from being appreciated, thus passes to Juventus and Milan. Without forgetting Lazio, rightfully back in full tussle, for the most beautiful and hard-fought Champions race ever.
