Triumph Naples, Juve sink. Maradona's big match projects the Azzurri to the top of the standings alone, but at the same time condemns the Bianconeri to a sensational 16th place, with only one point collected in three games, 8 less from the leaders. A frightening roster, which induces us to pronounce the word crisis despite the fact that the championship is just starting. What is most worrying is the repetition of the same mistakes, almost as if they were irreparable: looking at the Szczesny entry is believing. Once again, just like in Udine, it was a duck of hers that stunned the Lady, before a madness by Kean (debut-encore to be forgotten) definitively knocked her out. Yesterday therefore, however heavy they were, it was not the absences that condemned Allegri's team, but the levity of those present. Napoli was thus able to remedy Manolas' mistake and win the match, moreover at a time when a draw seemed to go well for both of them. The scenario at Juventus is decidedly bleak, because losing so much ground from the top of the standings is very dangerous, especially since the Champions League will be played on Tuesday and another thrilling match against Milan on Sunday.
Evidence of a certain nervousness the argument at the end of the game between Allegri and Spalletti, moreover on the edge of the press room: the Juventus coach, once he met his colleague who was preparing for the usual interviews, reproached him for having "caused a mess" with the referee, unleashing a decidedly high-pitched bickering. “I didn't expect this face-to-face, I went to greet him both at the beginning and at the end, but he had gone away – Spalletti replied-. There was no friction. I had always lost against him, once I win he comes to moralise me?”. Allegri, on the other hand, had to respond to the issues on the pitch, starting with the Szczesny problem, which became more and more evident game after game. “He is a great goalkeeper and the owner of Juve – he defended it in no uncertain terms -. There was that ball that got away from him, but on Tuesday he will still be in goal and will do well. Maybe in the first half we should have been more lucid and scored the second goal, but after the 1-1 draw we had a bit of difficulty. There are also many positive things in this match, we did a test of character. Right now we pay dearly for every mistake, now things are going like this but I have nothing to reproach the boys for”.
To tell the truth, however, his Juve did little to win, despite a gift from Manolas to Morata who took the lead after just 10'. There the match seemed to have taken place in ideal conditions, with Napoli forced to attack a defense reinvigorated by the iron duo Chiellini-Bonucci and the bianconeri to restart in space. But then, after a save by Ospina on Kulusevski, Allegri's team was no longer able to get out of their own frontline, and when Szczesny combined the omelette by letting Insigne's shot slip away (57', winning tap-in by Politano) , it definitely went into the ballpark. However, the draw would have remained the same if Kean, who had just replaced Morata, had not attempted an own goal (in spite of him, obviously) in the 85th minute, delivering the ball to Koulibaly for the final 2-1. This league offers no discounts and, above all, it waits for no one: even Atalanta noticed it, surprisingly defeated byexcellent Florentine of Italian. The Viola are increasingly applying to be the surprise of the season, also because they are driven by a truly implacable Vlahovic.
The Serbian signed a double penalty (33' and 49') which knocked out the Goddess, unable to get up despite Zapata's first center in the league (65', also from the penalty spot). However, Gasperini and general manager Marino pointed the finger at the referee, guilty of having canceled a goal by Djimsiti on 0-0 (offside by Zapata considered active) and of having awarded the first penalty to Fiorentina for an arm by Maehle. “In the first half there were too heavy episodes against us which conditioned the match, this defeat leaves us with great regret – explained the Nerazzurri coach -. We are convinced that the result was determined by episodes that are difficult to comment on, I hope that clarity is clarified because it is too difficult like this". Arbitration controversies, however debatable, aside, it is clear that Atalanta is still unable to rediscover the brilliance of the recent past, with the consequence of having already lost ground from the top area. A discourse that is even more true for Juve, increasingly distant from the goals that belong to them in terms of coat of arms and history: the fact that the second defeat in just three days whether it arrived on the day when Ronaldo, making his debut with Manchester United, scored a brace against Newcastle, perhaps, is not completely accidental.
