The Scudetto fight is inflamed more than ever. Napoli's draw against Sassuolo means that the ranking is shortened significantly and unexpected, obviously as far as the first place is concerned. At the run, in addition to Milan and Inter, both victorious on Genoa and Spice, theAtalanta, only 5 points away from the Azzurri, with the prospect, however, of facing them on Saturday at the Maradona and thus trying to reduce the gap to 2.
A tangle of teams in just 5 pitches, all with their strengths and weaknesses, ready to give us away a thrilling title race like never before, because anything can happen every day. The referee, right now, appears to be Sassuolo, which after beating Milan at the San Siro was partially repeated by stopping Napoli at the Mapei Stadium.
An equal that Spalletti has though the bitter taste of half defeat, above all for the way it happened: the Azzurri, in fact, had managed to get up 2-0 thanks to goals from Fabian Ruiz (51') and Mertens (59') and they seemed in total control. But then, in the 71st minute, Scamacca took the chair, who repeated himself after the feat in Milan with a network of rare beauty: Mancini, desperately looking for center forwards for the world play-offs, will certainly have appreciated. From then on, thanks to Koulibaly's injury (Insigne and Fabian Ruiz also stopped together with him, all in doubt for Atalanta), the match turned and Sassuolo gained ground, until they found the 2- 2 with Ferrari, headed over from a cross by Berardi (89'), arousing the wrath of Spalletti (expelled) for a very dubious contact between Defrel and Rrahmani. In full stoppage time the neroverdi even scored the 3-2 with Defrel himself but this time the referee, after consulting the Var, rightly canceled for a foul by Berardi again on Rrahmani.
“I was expelled because I protested during the 2-2 penalty, there was a foul by Defrel on Rrahmani – reiterated the blue coach -. The injuries then penalized us, when Sassuolo came back with strength we weren't able to get the ball going well, we lost easy balls. We needed to do something more and we didn't succeed...". The misstep of the leaders, for obvious reasons, makes the pursuers happy, starting with Pioli's Milan, who returned victorious from the away match in Genoa. The 3-0 scored by Ibrahimovic (10' from a free-kick) and by Messias' brace (47' with a header, 61' with a close left foot) restores confidence to the Rossoneri, who are literally masters of the pitch against a too inferior Genoa, not at all reinvigorated by Shevchenko looked after, although Maignan had to intervene twice to keep a clean sheet.
However, there is a negative note and it concerns Kjaer, forced to go out on a stretcher after 4' for a sprain to the knee: tests will show how serious it is, but there is a lot of concern. “I hope it's nothing serious, for us he is a very important player for many reasons – sighed Pioli, before commenting on the victory-. I don't know where we can go, but the team had the right reaction. We are not a homework team, if we don't go further we are not superior to our opponents, but if we play with conviction and confidence we can have our say".
The Rossoneri thus bring themselves within 1 of Napoli and +2 of Inter, with the prospect of a favorable round: while Spalletti and Inzaghi will have to deal with Gasperini and Mourinho, in fact, Pioli will host Salernitana last in the standings at the San Siro . There is no doubt though that the most convincing team and constant of the moment, in addition to the usual Atalanta (which however is further back), both Inter, capable of showing once again a winning mentality, accompanied by a beautiful and concrete game. The success against Spezia counts up to a certain point, but the trend goes far beyond the 2-0 scored by Gagliardini (36') and Lautaro (58' from a penalty), as demonstrated by the six victories collected in the last seven championship, among which the one in the direct clash with Napoli stands out. Inzaghi has developed a luxury car, capable of traveling fast even on days when several starters are missing: in yesterday's starting eleven for example, between turnover and injuries, De Vrij, Bastoni, Darmian, Barella and Dzeko were missing, yet no one noticed.
The overtaking on Milan has been skipped, the approach to Napoli hasn't and now there are many who think that Inter, in the light of the last few weeks, is once again favorite for the Scudetto. “It was a game to approach well and the boys were amazing, they entered with the right attitude, I'm very, very satisfied – Inzaghi commented radiantly -. Now we'll see if we can recover someone for Rome, but I was already calm before this match. We have achieved 10 consecutive useful results, but we run up front and nobody stops: Milan, Naples, Atalanta… We just have to continue at this pace”.
The next step is next Saturday's away game at the Olimpico, when there will be the big clash with the ex par excellence of the Nerazzurri world, or José Mourinho. However, he certainly doesn't come as a favourite, on the contrary... The defeat in Bologna (1-0 with a goal from Svanberg in the 35th minute) confirms all the limits of his Roma, unable to find the continuity necessary for a top championship. The Champions League is now at 6 points but the Giallorossi, regardless of the standings, do not currently seem able to compete with the top 4: the match against Inter could mark a turning point, or completely destroy the Special One's ambitions , who will also miss Abraham and Karsdorp, both warned and booked.
“I'm proud of the boys, even with the defeat I don't have any negative feelings – thought the Portuguese -. If I were Zaniolo, however, I would seriously think about the possibility of not staying so long in Serie A, it's impossible for him here, the attitudes that the referees have with him make me feel bad. And about the yellow card Pairetto gave me, I prefer not to say anything, I already told him what I had to say at the end of the game”.
The 15th day will close tonight with Turin-Empoli (18.30 pm) e Lazio-Udinese (20.45pm), but the spotlights are already on the "outrageous" Saturday that awaits us, with Napoli-Atalanta, Roma-Inter and Milan-Salernitana making the Scudetto race even more tangled, and therefore beautiful.
