Juventus flies, Napoli collapses. This is, in summary, what left us on Saturday in the championship, with the Bianconeri increasingly leading the standings (10 points ahead of Roma, albeit with one more match) and the Azzurri grappling with a very heavy defeat , against an Atalanta that is a candidate with authority for a European placement. Everything according to the script at the Stadium, with endless twists and turns at the San Paolo: this time, however, De Laurentiis, who has always been a lover of cinema, will certainly not have liked it.
Empoli wasn't the right opponent to stop the Lady, yet at the end of the first half, thanks to Allegri's turnover (necessary, mind you) and the result still standing at 0-0, some doubted that she could escape us the surprise. Doubt immediately faded at the beginning of the second half when the Lady, perhaps awakened by her coach, decided to get serious.
Cuadrado and Mandzukic, two of the worst in the first part, packed the 1-0 goal (52', however the archives will read Skorupski's own goal) and a few minutes later Alex Sandro, one who instead had traveled well from the start , doubled (65', nice diagonal left foot). In fact, the match ended there: the rest was pure academy, with the team trying to get Higuain to score, who for once was left without a goal. “The road to the Scudetto is still long – smiled Allegri. – Roma could win them all and reach 95 points, that's why I hope they can't beat Inter”.
On the other hand, those who will certainly support the Giallorossi are Napoli, otherwise Pioli's team will come really close in the standings. The home thud against Atalanta could cost dearly also because, from now on, the calendar is terrible. Juventus in the Italian Cup, Rome in the league, Real Madrid in the Champions League: Sarri's team plays a season in a few days and the tour de force has started in the worst possible way. To speak only of the Azzurri, however, would be an understatement: in fact, here we must also start taking Atalanta seriously, even reaching just 3 points behind in the standings.
The 0-2 draw at San Paolo was signed by Caldara (28' with a header, 70' with a great goal), ironically already bought by Juventus: the Napoli fans are authorized to beg but the Coppa Italia semi-final could have already begun. What is surprising, in addition to the result, is the way in which the same arrived. In fact, the players from Bergamo were down to 10 in the second half due to Kessie's expulsion, yet they didn't let themselves be intimidated and actually scored the 2-0 goal with a splendid coast-to-coast Caldara-Spinazzola action.
Bergamo is mad with joy (seeing the welcome at Orio al Serio airport is believing) and even dreams of the Champions League, while Gasperini, on the other hand, without hiding his satisfaction, flies much lower. “That's a goal for better-equipped teams than us – glossed over the coach. – Of course, however, if after 25 days you're fourth in the standings you can't help but believe in Europe, a victory like this authorizes us to fight to the end for this goal”.
