The return of the bombers. Looking forward to any replies from Ibrahimovic and Lukaku, Saturday's advances feature Ronaldo and Immobile on the cover, capable of dragging Juventus and Lazio with goals, plays and the usual unmistakable leadership. The en-plein would have been complete if Zapata hadn't limited himself to hitting the post, but the god of football can already be satisfied with this: the menu, in fact, borders on perfection. On the shields, once again, the Portuguese, to whom the forced abstinence daughter of Covid seems to have done even good. In fact, since he returned, he has already scored 5 goals and Juve, coincidentally, have won two games and came close to the third, which they only missed in full recovery against Lazio. Yesterday CR7 made it 2-0 over Cagliari with a deadly one-two in the first half (38' and 42'), finally giving Pirlo a serene and criticism-proof victory.
It is therefore necessary to celebrate him in all his grandeur, without however reducing the success solely and exclusively to him. Indeed, Juventus convinced and this is probably the best news for his coach: the choices are starting to pay off, as well as the return of some too often underestimated 90s. It must be said that yesterday's Cagliari was evanescent, as evidenced by the embarrassing zero under the heading "shots on goal", but the merit goes above all to the black and white people, perfect both in the offensive and defensive phases. De Ligt's return has restored solidity to the backlog, Rabiot and Danilo confirmed the progress of recent times, Arthur, as long as he had gas in the tank, has finally reminded everyone of the reason for his purchase. The rest was done by Cuadrado, Kulusevski, even Bernardeschi, for one night on the levels of a few years ago, all perfect squires, in short, for his majesty Cristiano.
“We enjoy it, but everyone did very well, both the internationals and the players returning after the injury – Pirlo's analysis -. We took the field well from the first minute, dominating the game: we needed a performance like this for our growth". Smiles also in the Lazio house, where a victory in Crotone is celebrated that is much more complicated than expected. The storm that hit the Calabrian city, in fact, first jeopardized the match and then, once the authorities decided to let him play, heavily conditioned him. However, Inzaghi's team had the merit of adapting to rain, wind and a field at the limits of practicality, first of all by exploiting its best weapon, namely Immobile.
The top scorer of last season, stopped for over 20 days due to Covid, first unlocked the impasse with a splendid diving header (21'), then he sent Correa in goal for the final 2-0 (58'). A nice message to the whole championship (Lazio now have 14 points, like Rome, Naples and Atalanta), but also to Europe, given that they will receive Zenit St. Petersburg at the Olimpico on Tuesday. “We won a very difficult game, against a team that has been playing excellent games lately – commented Inzaghi with satisfaction -. Still? He was very good, he is a leader, he scored a very important and very beautiful goal ”. On the other hand, Saturday at Atalanta was disappointing, stopped on the draw by the Italian Spezia.
A 0-0, that of Manuzzi of Cesena (from the next the Ligurians will finally be able to play at the Peak), which certified the decline of the Bergamo players, distant relatives of last season's "steamrollers". Of course, looking at the scoring chances for Gasperini's team he could easily have won (one of Gosens was disallowed for an offside by centimeters from Zapata), but the intensity of the past, at the moment, is only a memory. So it happens that the little Spezia, until now one of the revelations of the championship, manages to withstand the impact, taking home a golden point and taking away two from the most popular nerazzurri, now forced to change pace or review their ambitions. “These aren't easy matches, especially after the international breaks – explained Gasperini -. It has never happened that players return on Friday to play on Saturday, this is a great difficulty but unfortunately we can't do anything about it".
