A draw that allows the Milan to hook up with Inter, give to the Naples the chance of the first solo, but above all it gets the Juve, even slipped to the penultimate place in the standings, on a par with Cagliari. The 1-1 at the Stadium leaves the balance up there more or less unchanged, with the exception of Spalletti's Azzurri who, in case of victory tonight in Udine (20.45 pm), would remain the only ones with full points.
On balance, in short, this draw particularly affects the Juventus, yet dry of victories after 4 days: it hadn't happened since the season 1961/62, testifying to a very difficult moment, certainly the toughest in Andrea Agnelli's management. Allegri, on the eve, had tried to shift the load of tension to the Devil, saying that this match would have been much more decisive for him than for the Lady. A lie for good, for heaven's sake, but a lie nonetheless, given that the plate cries beyond any reasonable measure.
His Juve had started the game in the best possible way, finding the lead after just 4' thanks to Morata, very good at exploiting a sensational positional error by Milan, sprinting into the open field, overcoming Hernandez's resistance and beating Maignan with an elegant and effective scavetto. There the Rossoneri felt the blow, so much so that the Lady had the chance to go up 2-0: the French goalkeeper was good again on Morata and then on Dybala.
After the outburst, however, the Devil took courage, taking over the field and forcing Juve to close down and start again: Pioli's biggest problem, however, was the lack of offensive weight, with his team dying out in the last 25 meters. In the 76th minute, however, the decisive episode occurred, namely a corner kick by Tonali on which Rebic pounced like a "true nueve", as if he had received help from home from the couple Ibra-Giroud.
The draw further galvanized Milan, who found the ball at Kalulu's feet in the final to win: the Frenchman hit with a sure blow but Szczesny, this time, found the momentum of the past, deflecting the shot for a corner. Thus the match finished 1-1, a result that could be good for Milan, now paired with Inter on 10 points, but certainly not for Juve, forced to deal with a worrying crisis of results, as admitted, this time yes, from Allegri in the post-game.
“I'm angry at how things went, up until the equalizing goal we were in total control, then we even risked losing – thundered the coach from Livorno – Unfortunately we lost focus and determination, we were even superficial in the corner. The thing you need to quickly understand is that there are matches in which you have to be tough, bad, pay attention, bring home the result, otherwise it becomes difficult to think of moving up the table."
Opposite mood for Pioli, even if he too can't be fully satisfied: the chance to win in Turin was tempting, but his team didn't manage to exploit it. "We came here to win the game, in the first minutes we found a better Juve than us, then we improved and in the second half we certainly did better than them - the Rossoneri coach's analysis - We tried to win it, it was a performance positive, we don't lack ideas, will and team spirit. I told the team that we must be aware of our strength, last year to win games like this we almost had to hope for a miracle, but this year we know we can do it".
Black Sunday instead for the Romans, who came out with broken bones from the double confrontation with Verona and Cagliari: first defeat of the season for Mourinho's giallorossi, only draw for Sarri's biancocelesti. In short, the Capital sticks the final exam and the speech is especially true for the Roma, given that Lazio had already shown some cracks between Milan and Istanbul. It wasn't enough for both of them to take the lead first, a sign of an inevitable post-cup fatigue, but also of a lack of lucidity in the most important moments.
At the Bentegodi Roma had unlocked it thanks to a spell by Pellegrini (36 '), author of a back-heel that will end up on the championship initials, however in the second half Tudor's Verona raised the pace and found the equalizer already in the 49th minute with Barak. The Giallorossi felt the pinch and the Scala players took advantage of it by doubling through Caprari, who was good at finding the corner with a right footed shot on which Rui Patricio was unable to do anything. At that point all the schemes fell through: both wanted to win it, but Verona had something extra. Ilic's lucky (for Roma of course) own goal (58') wasn't enough for Mou's team, who gave up definitively in the 63rd minute when Faraoni made it 3-2 with a spectacular right-footed shot from distance , who first touched the crossbar and then slipped into the net.
“We didn't play well – the disappointed analysis of the Special One – I have nothing to say about the team's attitude, but we didn't adapt well to their way of playing and we lost many duels and second balls. They were more intense, we need to review the videos of this match to better understand what didn't work."
Misstep, albeit partial, even for Sarri's Lazio, forced to settle for a draw at home against Cagliari. Here too, just like the Giallorossi cousins, it was not enough to have unlocked the impasse first with a beautiful header from Immobile, relentless as usual when he wears the biancoceleste shirt (45 ').
At the start of the second half, however, the spectacular combination Marin-Joao Pedro for the splendid goal of the Sardinian equalizer (46 '), resulting in the turn of the match. In fact, Mazzarri's rossoblù even took the lead through Keita (62') and held out, albeit with a pinch of luck (several opportunities in Lazio, above all Immobile's crossbar), until 83' when Cataldi , who came in just before for Leiva, found the crossroads with a great power right foot. However, the final assault did not produce results and Lazio had to postpone the appointment with the victory again, absent from the 6-1 with Spezia on 28 August.
To complete the picture of the fourth day, as mentioned at the beginning, there will therefore be Udinese-Napoli. An important and delicate match, for the Azzurri who aim to take the top of the standings alone, but also for the Friulians, who in the event of a positive result would make a big leap towards the noble areas. On paper, of course, Spalletti's men are favorites, but woe to underestimate the post-Europa League efforts, especially after a demanding away game like that of Leicester.
Udinese has already shown that it can create problems for the big players, as happened on the first day against Juventus: in short, the match is anything but obvious, which is why the Azzurri will postpone the turnover to a later date, relying instead on the best possible 4-2-3-1 with Ospina in goal, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly and Mario Rui in defense, Fabian Ruiz and Anguissa in midfield, Politano, Elmas (favorite over Zielinski) and Insigne behind lone striker Osimhen . Classic 3-5-2 also for Gotti, who will respond with Silvestri in goal, Becao, Nuytinck and Samir in the back, Molina, Walace, Arslan, Pereyra and Stryger Larsen in the midfield, Deulofeu and Pussetto in attack.
