And now it's Naples' turn. Joined by Juventus and "frightened" by an Inter that shows no signs of stopping, the Azzurri must absolutely beat Sassuolo (15 pm) to take back the throne of the championship and prevent the Nerazzurri, engaged tomorrow in Verona, from even putting the arrow . On paper, the match at the San Paolo shouldn't present any major pitfalls: Sarri's team is decidedly superior to that of Bucchi, so far a distant relative of Di Francesco's glittering version. The neroverdi up to now are one of the biggest disappointments of the championship, as evidenced by the 15th place in the standings and the very recent home defeat against Udinese. But beware of the ghosts of the past: last season Sassuolo stopped Napoli both in the first leg and in the second leg, making them lose points which then, ranking in hand, cost them the Scudetto. Sarri absolutely does not want history to repeat itself, therefore he will limit the turnover to a minimum in spite of the imminent European match against Manchester City. The Azzurri's 4-3-3 will see Reina in goal, Maggio, Albiol, Koulibaly and Ghoulam in defense, Allan, Jorginho and Hamsik in midfield, Callejon, Mertens and Insigne in attack. Bucchi, on the gridiron after the defeat against Udinese on Wednesday, will try the feat with a 4-3-3 with Consigli in goal, Lirola, Cannavaro, Acerbi and Peluso in the back, Missiroli, Magnanelli and Sensi in the midfield, Ragusa, Falcinelli and Politano in the offensive trident.
Roma has also officially entered the Scudetto race, trailing by a few points only because they have one game left. Of course, the match against Sampdoria will have to be won, but in the meantime what matters is staying on the train and the Giallorossi, even if they don't charm, are succeeding brilliantly. After the one against Crotone, the 1-0 with Bologna arrived yesterday, a very heavy success signed by El Shaarawy. The Pharaoh decided the game with a beautiful goal (33'), a left-footed volley on the development of a corner kick which recalled Totti's past mafias, a real specialist in that type of goal. And then good management of the match, testifying that Di Francesco loves the good game but only if aimed at the final victory. “We kept the match under control, even if we could have tried to be more lucid, especially in the first half – the coach's analysis. – We work on a concept in which the defensive phase is important, without however neglecting the offensive one. Also in this match Dzeko had many opportunities, in the end he told me that he saved the goal for Tuesday night”. When Chelsea arrive at the Olimpico, for one of those great European nights in which Roma, slowly, are definitely making their mouths. A bit like the fight for the Scudetto, which becomes more and more of a real objective game after game.
