Juve wins the playoff. The 2-0 in Turin allows the Lady to stay in the wake of the first in her class, all in a weekend that saw her grappling with the most difficult commitment. Roma on the other hand, despite coming out with their heads held high, made up for another defeat in a direct clash that hurts, even if Fonseca's problems, despite the defeat by Napoli and the draw by Atalanta, come mainly from the rear, given that the Lazio, in case of victory, would hook them in the standings. Here, the other title this Saturday comes from the Azzurri, beaten in Genoa and increasingly in the eye of the storm: the Coppa Italia match in Bergamo it could be the last resort for Gattuso, now to all intents and purposes under the magnifying glass of critics.
But let's go back to the big match at the Stadium, a substantially balanced match where Juve and Roma, in terms of play, were roughly equivalent. But often, in games like this, it's the plays in the last 30 meters and there that make the difference the bianconeri were decidedly better, legitimizing the final success. “After the defeat against Inter we reunited and found our enthusiasm again, I've always been inside the group and the champions of this team have always helped me by sacrificing themselves – Pirlo's enthusiastic words -. We have a very competitive squad and we have to keep working. I grew up? Defeats and victories are used to improve, then a great club that supports me…”.
“We played well for almost the entire match, but we can't forget that we faced Juve – replied Fonseca -. They defended well, numbers are numbers, but the team that scored the goal won the match. I want to evaluate the team's performance, we had the courage to come here and play our game, unfortunately it was not enough”. In the first hot week of Juventus February (the next one starts tomorrow, with Inter and Napoli in 6 days), Cristiano Ronaldo woke up. And so, after the brace at San Siro, here's yesterday's goal, to spice up a performance that is finally at his level, both from a technical and physical point of view.
CR7 unlocked the match after just 13' with one of his plays, then hit the crossbar in the 23', finally induced Ibanez to score an own goal which, in fact, ended all discussions (69'): he was there, in fact, ready to collect the assist from Kulusevski, in turn splendidly launched by Cuadrado, with the consequence of forcing the Argentine to intervene desperately and, in the light of the facts, bankruptcy. But Pirlo has several reasons to smile: the substitutions work (Cuadrado and Kulusevski are proof of this), the midfield, yesterday without Bentancur, runs better and better, but above all the defense is once again solid. With yesterday's we are on the third consecutive clean sheet in the championship, not bad considering that, including the Italian Cup and the Super Cup, Juve have conceded only one goal in 6 games.
Roma, on the other hand, returns home with a defeat that hurts, above all due to yet another failure in the presence of an equal position: the Giallorossi, so far, have never managed to beat any of the first eight! However, yesterday, from the point of view of the game, nothing was missing and here we go back to the initial incipit: Juve had the necessary malice in front of goal, Rome does not. Therefore, it is inevitable to go back to talking about Dzeko, who took over yesterday but appeared late in condition. If the Giallorossi want to go to the Champions League, they need him, captain's armband or not, because Borja Mayoral can also be enough against the so-called "small" teams, but when the level rises, you can't ignore him. Problems that are nothing compared to those of Napoli, also defeated by Genoa and forced to officially announce a crisis that has already been in the air for some time.
Losing at Marassi was highly discouraged in the week which, in all likelihood, will decide a large part of the season: Atalanta in Bergamo on Wednesday for the return semi-final of the Coppa Italia, Saturday at the Maradona against Juve. Yet it happened, which makes the next matches even more delicate than they already were, also because the atmosphere in the blue house, for several weeks, has been anything but serene. It must also be said that the defeat against Genoa is probably undeserved, at least if you look at the statistics (24 total shots to 4, topped off with a post and a crossbar), but when things have to go badly, you know, there's no nothing to do. Just think that Pandev decided the match, fielded by Ballardini in place of the injured Shomurodov: the Macedonian, dry from matchday one, purged his former team twice in the only shots of the first half (11', 26'), sending his team-mates into the interval with a sensational 2-0.
Napoli, stopped by the crossbar on Petagna's header, played a recovery in the boarding, without however going beyond Politano's goal (79 '), insufficient to overturn a result which, evidently, is not going well at all. “There's not much to say, it's the same match against Spezia – sighed Gattuso -. There are mistakes, but we are paying dearly for them. Today should be done alone congratulations to the team, only that we did everything, we scored two goals by ourselves. There's a lot of regret, this year we're taking a lot of goals off the bat, and that hurts us. Numbers don't lie, it's not the first game where we build a lot, concede little and lose. There is regret, it must burn, go ahead, but this situation has been going on for a long time”.
Saturday of grim looks also in Bergamo, where Atalanta was stopped on the draw by Turin. Nothing scandalous in an absolute sense, God forbid, but certainly being ahead by 3 goals and being put back together isn't exactly the best of life. In the 21st minute, in fact, the result was 3-0, thanks to goals by Ilicic and Muriel and an own goal by Sirigu, so much so that the only doubt did not concern the success, but the modalities of the same. But then the grenades sensationally returned to the game, finding 3-1 and 3-2 even before the break, thanks to goals from Belotti (42' from a rejected penalty) and Bremer (46'). In the final part of the second half then here is the 3-3, signed by Bonazzoli in the 84th minute, 3' after his entry on the pitch: a mockery, which is worth a good point for Toro and many, many regrets for Atalanta , even slipped to seventh place in the standings.
