Atalanta overtakes Inter and puts Juve in the sights. The victory over Sampdoria (2-0, goals from Toloi and Muriel), the eighth in a row for this incredible team, is in fact worth third place in the standings, albeit awaiting Conte's answer, called to answer tonight against Verona (21.45 pm). Gasperini, now also 2 points behind Lazio (and those are not virtual), can thus launch the challenge to the Lady, for what will be the big match of the thirty-second day: any success would shorten the gap from the leaders to only 6 points, reopening the championship in all scenarios, even the most unthinkable.
But Football Wednesday delivered as well the umpteenth victory of Napoli (2-1 on Genoa, goals from Mertens, Goldaniga and Lozano) and the much more painful one of Rome on Parma, comeback and with a very questionable moviola episode. Ready to go and the Giallorossi, lined up by Fonseca with a 3-5-2 formation like in Naples, found themselves down by a goal (9', Kucka from a penalty), with the risk that fear would get the better of ideas. However, Mkhitaryan (43 ') and Veretout (57') took care of chasing away the ghosts, overturning the result and giving some oxygen back to the Portuguese coach, who was never so shaky. Then, in the 73rd minute, here's the episode with a red pencil: Mancini's evident arm in the area, Fabbri's visit to the Var and... nothing done. Very questionable decision, especially in the light of the numerous penalties awarded in the last few days for much less obvious situations.
"We bordered on the ridiculous, they don't give us a penalty like this after three days ago they gave us one against one that didn't exist - thundered the Parma team manager Lucarelli – We have always tried not to make controversy, but now we can no longer accept these mistakes: we are not the village idiots”.
“It was important to win and win well, I think we did it today – he commented Fonseca, preferring to ignore the penalty – The boys responded positively, I'm satisfied, even if we could have easily scored 3-4 goals, there was no need to suffer so much. I think everyone has shown their ambition to win, but we're only talking about one game: now we need to continue with this attitude."
The thirty-first will therefore close Inter, call a beat Verona to redeem Sunday's defeat. This is a very delicate match for the Nerazzurri, who have passed in the space of two weeks from their dream of the Scudetto to fourth place, albeit waiting to respond. Antonio Conte, as explosive as few other times in the post Bologna, yesterday instead chose a lower profile, perhaps in an attempt to calm the waters a bit after the "headlines" of recent days.
“The disappointment is still there, but having suffered another match is a good thing – he explained the technician in the press conference – The bitterness remains, but you are immediately forced to commit yourself and concentrate on the next opponent”. Which is Juric's Verona, certainly less on the ball than in the pre-lockdown (the defeat with Brescia penultimate proves it), but still fearsome and hungry. “We prepared the match as always, preparing the players down to the smallest detail – he continued Tale – We face a very good team and the first leg also proves it, won in a comeback with a goal from Barella: we will need great attention, but we want to achieve results”.
Compared to Sunday, when he pointed the finger at the average quality of the squad, the Nerazzurri coach took a step back, also because injuries (Moses, Sensi, Barella) and suspensions (Bastoni, D'Ambrosio) force him to continue with the turnover . “It's a problem that affects everyone, when you play with these temperatures you end up paying the price – his thoughts on the matter. – But I say that I have faith in all the guys, I can give space to the various components without losing in terms of performance".
The field actually said something else, but this club and coach know it well. But now it's time to get up and think about the pitch, which Inter will face with a 3-4-1-2 formation that will see Handanovic in goal, Skriniar, De Vrij and Godin in defence, Candreva, Gagliardini, Brozovic and Young in midfield. Eriksen on the trocar, Lukaku and Sanchez (favorite over Lautaro Martinez) in attack. Type team instead for Juric, who will respond with the following 3-4-2-1: Silvestri between the posts, Rrahmani, Gunter and Kumbulla in the back department, Faraoni, Amrabat, Veloso and Lazovic in the midfield, Pessina and Zaccagni behind the only tip of Carmine.
