The championship begins to split. The thirteenth day records a first escape of the three up front, namely Milan, Inter and Juventus, who gain ground on all their pursuers. The result is that between the first Rossoneri and fourth Roma there are 7 points, not to mention Napoli, Sassuolo, Atalanta and Lazio, on which the advantage, to date, is even wider. In short, Milan runs away and only Juve seems to be able to keep up with them: all this, it should be remembered, on the eve of a Tuesday which, in addition to the start of the 14th day (starting with Crotone-Parma and Juventus-Fiorentina), will see the Coni Guarantee Board to decide on the match against Napoli on 4 October. Should a different sentence arrive from the first two, the ranking would undergo a sensational turnaround, with Juve forced to earn the 3 points currently in their possession on the field and the Azzurri at 24. However, we will only talk about this tomorrow, if necessary. because today is still time to comment on what happened yesterday.
The Milanese have won, but if the success of Inter against Spezia it was taken for granted, so it was not for that of Milan against Sassuolo, in light of the value of the Emilians and the numerous absences of the Rossoneri. Instead, Pioli's team made less effort than expected, even taking the lead after 6 seconds: that much, in fact, served Leao to beat Consigli and record the new record for the fastest goal in Serie A (the previous one belonged to Poggi in a Fiorentina-Piacenza of 2 December 2001). It was not a flash in the pan, because in the 9th minute Calhanoglu scared Sassuolo again (goal disallowed for offside) and in the 26th minute Saelemaekers he was serious, realizing a splendid sprint from the usual Hernandez.
The Emilians tried to reopen the match, but they only succeeded in the 89th minute through Berardi, allowing Milan to take 3 very heavy points, for rankings and morale. The negative notes on Sunday, needless to say, concern injuries and suspensions, which will force Pioli to face Lazio without Kessié (warned and cautioned) and Tonali (muscle problem), but this Milan has been living with the emergency for some time and can no longer be afraid of nothing.
"This match weighed heavily from a mental point of view, we wanted to win and we are very satisfied, we were not happy with the draws against Parma and Genoa - commented happy Pioli – A Scudetto signal? The club has put us in the best conditions and we also feel the closeness of the fans: if they were at the stadium with us we would fly, as Ibra told me a few weeks ago".
To fly is also Conte's Inter, who with Spezia found the sixth win in a row in the championship. Of course, it wasn't a spectacular success, but yesterday the most important thing was to win and the Nerazzurri did it thanks to goals from Hakimi (51') and Lukaku (71' from a penalty), without risking practically anything: Piccoli's goal , only came in full recovery (94').
"This is the sixth consecutive victory in the championship, these types of results are welcome and then project you up in the standings - he exulted Tale – Let's consider that this is the ninth game of the XNUMX-in-a-row and there's a little tiredness, it's useless to hide, but we need to finish this set of games in the best possible way. The market? After Verona we will meet with the club and make the first evaluations”.
That could be on the plate Papu Gomez (Ausilio did not deny) downloaded by Gasperini, moreover without any kind of consequence. Atalanta, in fact, has returned to fly, as evidenced the spectacular 4-1 with which he beat Roma. A splendid victory for the Nerazzurri, obtained with an angry and qualitatively impeccable comeback: on the Sunday that certified the break with Papu, not even called up, Gasperini found Ilicic, the absolute protagonist of the match. The Slovenian, who came on at the start of the second half with Roma ahead (Dzeko in the 3rd minute), overturned everything with two assists (one for Zapata's 1-1 in the 59th minute, the other for Gosens' 2-1 in the 70th minute) and a splendid goal, the result of a personal action that brought us back to the pre-lockdown, when Josip delighted the Italian and European audiences (85').
In the middle, Muriel's goal (72'), to certify the return of the Goddess (should she win the recovery against Udinese she would return to the Champions League area) and Roma's head-to-head pain, strong with the weak and weak with the strong. In fact, Fonseca's team has not yet won a single match against the top of the class, collecting only 3 draws (Milan, Juventus, Sassuolo) and two defeats (Naples and Atalanta, leaving out the one against Verona with which, however , had not gone beyond 0-0).
"We needed Ilicic, if we get him back in the best way he can make a big leap in quality - he confirmed satisfied Gasperini Gomez? I will no longer answer questions like this, society will speak. We won 4-1 against Roma, drew with Juve, beat Fiorentina and Ajax… Let's talk about this which is better”.
"I don't want to look for alibis, a team that plays the first half with great intensity can't make a second like kids, like children - the analysis of the opposite mood of Fonseca – The team has started to be long, not very aggressive and against Atalanta it pays off: it's a matter of attitude, the match lasts 90 minutes, not 45…”.
To close this great football Sunday the postponement between Lazio and Naples, with the beautiful victory of Inzaghi's men. A 2-0 with author signatures such as Property (9', splendid header) and Luis Alberto (56', shot from outside the area), who confirms the seven lives of the biancocelesti, but also the discontinuity of the azzurri. The alibi of absences is valid up to a certain point, because if it is true that Gattuso was missing Insigne, Mertens and the usual Osimhen, Inzaghi had to do without Acerbi, Correa and Lucas Leiva. In short, both had problems but Lazio approached the game better, then managing to manage the advantage without excessive worries.
“We played a great match, the best of the season in Serie A – he exulted the Lazio technician – It must be a new beginning for us, we have time to recover in the league. My contract? Now let's face Milan, then there will be time to talk about it with the president."
Opposite mood, obviously, in the Napoli home, where Gattuso has not spoken (the problems with his right eye have returned to torment him), even if his anger has been seen several times. "We are sorry because we lost badly against a direct competitor, but let's not make drama: we must remain lucid, we know that we are not these - he glossed over Riccio, Rino's deputy -. We were not so lucid and soft, but we have to recover already on Wednesday against Turin: we expect and demand more from the boys".
Now a day off, then, starting tomorrow, it will be championship again, for the fourteenth and last day of this absurd, unfortunately unforgettable, 2020.
