The championship is officially reopened. At least this says the standings, which sees Juventus and Roma separated by just one point. Sure, the bianconeri still have to make up for a game and the same seems anything but prohibitive (in Crotone on 8 February), however before then the calendar seems to smile at the Giallorossi, as well as the form shown in the last period.
Juve's defeat in Florence certifies mental and technical problems that are no longer negligible, vice versa Roma's victory in Udine confirms a considerable growth in character, which authorizes, in fact, to speak at least of an open championship. Massimiliano Allegri had asked to go to the Franchi "to command the match", but only Paulo Sousa's men, masters of the field both from a technical and psychological point of view, made the big voice.
“It's a bad stop – admitted the Juventus coach. – In any case, we can still recover and go back to more than 4, and we never thought we had already won the championship so far in advance. We have to get it into our heads that between now and May 28 it will all be battles, every team always plays the game of its life against us".
Once again Juve's problem was the approach, who took the field with too much sufficiency in the face of the "garra" shown by the Viola. Away sickness (4 defeats out of 9 matches away from the Stadium) is becoming a constant, especially on those fields where the Lady is seen as a historic rival and therefore attacked from start to finish.
Fiorentina immediately started strong and after coming close to scoring with Vecino (on the post), they found it with Kalinic, good at capitalizing on Bernardeschi's assist (37', however he suspects the outstretched leg with which he snatched the ball from Alex Sandro).
In the second half, Juve were expected to be more aggressive, but instead the Viola started again better and found the net through Badelj, author of a strange cross shot from distance on which Buffon was deceived (54').
Higuain's paw (58') only gave the illusion of a breakthrough, because if it is true that the Bianconeri could have equalized (Dybala's sensational mistake in the final), it is equally true that Fiorentina have repeatedly failed to score the third goal. Smiling, in addition to obviously Sousa's team, is therefore Roma, who are enjoying the success of Udine and the unexpected (perhaps) approach in the standings.
A very important victory for the Giallorossi especially for the way it arrived: once again, in fact, Spalletti's men showed their nails and teeth, snatching 3 gold points with a 0-1 draw that matches last week's in Genoa. All this despite heavy absences (yesterday Salah, Perotti, De Rossi and Rudiger were missing) and the bad day of Dzeko, author of a missed penalty and many errors in the sills.
So it was the usual Nainggolan (12') who decided, one who never backs down when it comes to heavy goals. “Even today my players were tough, immediately dictating the law of who wants to take home the result – commented Spalletti. – In the second half, however, we weren't mature enough, if you get opportunities to close games and you miss them all, you risk taking a draw. In any case, the victory is deserved, we are finding the right balance and continuity. Dzeko? Sometimes he's a soft player and I tell him so too…”.
