Napoli sinks, the capital rises again. Give it on Sunday opposing moods for Garcia, Mourinho e Sarri, the first defeated by Fiorentina and once again in the sights of critics and fans, the second and third returned smiling after the beautiful victories against Cagliari and Atalanta. The championship stops with Milan in command, Inter two points behind and the Juventus-Fiorentina pair immediately behind, while the Azzurri are dealing with another setback, also peppered with the usual episodes of internal nervousness, the result of a Garcia increasingly discussed and questionable.
Napoli – Fiorentina 1-3, Italian flies, Garcia gets everything wrong: “The responsibility is mine alone”
The "play-off" to get back into the VIP area of the rankings is Fiorentina won, thanks to a great performance both from a technical and mental point of view. The Napoli, however, records a net step back compared to the last few games, re-proposing the ugly and faded version of the first weeks. Once again Garcia ends up under accusation, because on Maradona's knockout there is first and foremost his signature. The French coach changed four game systems (!), going from the initial 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, then returning to 4-3-3 and finally turning to a 4-2-4 , all replacing Osimhen, the best player on the pitch up to that point, with a (plenty of) quarter of an hour to go, obviously with the team down. If we add to this yet another "fuck" received (this time from Politano, furious at the moment of the change with Cajuste) a disturbing picture emerges, far from the version desired by the owners. The victories against Udinese and Lecce evidently represented a simple truce, because at the first difficulty the castle collapsed.
La Fiorentina, mind you, it has great merits, especially since it came from the European efforts on Thursday, with 48 hours of rest less than the Azzurri. The pitch, however, said the opposite, given that the Viola immediately attacked the match by taking the lead with Brekalo (7') and then, despite Parisi's blunder which favored the 1-1 penalty (Osimhen in injury time) , they continued to play football of great intensity, coming back ahead with Bonaventura (63') and closing the game with the usual Nico Gonzalez (93'). At the end of the match Maradona inundated the team with boos, but the feeling is that the target is above all Garcia, who is increasingly isolated in his mania for protagonism.
"There is bitterness and frustration, it's a bad result, we made defensive mistakes and also in attack – the Frenchman's bitter comment -. It's not good to be so unaggressive in the defensive phase, when you lose at home and make 4 fouls in the whole match there's something not normal. There responsibility for this defeat is mine, but not for exchanges. Now we have to look ahead, we missed a great opportunity to stay in third place and stay in the top group. The fans' boos? They're right, we're very pissed off too."
Cagliari – Roma 1-4, Mourinho: “I have a contract until 30 June. Dybala? I'm not optimistic..."
Sunday of instead I smiled for Roma, returned from Cagliari with a goal that brought points and morale. Lukaku, once again devastating, confirms themore man than José Mourinho, but in Unipol Domus poker everyone shone, including that one Dybala came off in the 40th minute due to injury. This is the only negative news of the day, because the Argentine left the pitch in great pain after taking a blow to his knee: the Giallorossi are crossing their fingers and hoping it's just a blow, aware of Joya's enormous specific weight. In his place came Belotti, scoring again after his brace in the Europa League, closing a match opened by Aouar after just 19' and put in the safe by Lukaku (20'). Big Rom then repeated himself in the 59th minute, before Nandez fixed the result at 4-1 with a penalty that was only useful for the scoreboards, certainly not for poor Ranieri.
“I work with the players every day and with all the staff, it's like a bubble, we travel together, eat together and everything – the thought of Mourinho -. We just thought that we had to win match after match, then I live isolated, I don't have much of a social life and therefore I don't hear people talking. Rumors about my dismissal? I don't know what you're talking about, I have a contract until June 30th and I know perfectly well what I want, which is to give everything I can to Roma, furthermore the club has no problem with me. Dybala? We have to wait until Monday or Tuesday for the exams, but if he's not optimistic, I'm not optimistic either...".
Lazio – Atalanta 3-2, Sarri: “Vecino solves our problems, but now we concede less”
Three very important points also for the Lazio, that finds his smile again in the championship after the Glasgow hangover. Winning was fundamental to stay in the wake of the leaders, including Gasperini's Atalanta: mission accomplished, thanks to a hungry approach that brought the score to 2-0 (own goal by De Ketelaere in the 5th minute and goal by Castellanos in the 11'), first and foremost the result of greater concentration and wickedness. But then, as often happened during the season, Sarri's team risked ruining everything by being caught by the Goddess, who found themselves thanks to Ederson (33') and Kolasinac (63'). It seemed like the prelude to a Bergamo comeback, but instead Lazio started playing again and in the end was defeated rewarded by the usual Vecino, still on target after Glasgow, for a very heavy 3-2 which gives hope again in view of the post-break.
"Vecino in this season It's solving a lot of problems for us, he came from a level match in the Champions League and today he performed well, both from a mental and material point of view - he rejoiced Sarri -. We performed at a high level in the first 25 minutes, which is disappointing because the result could have been more rounded after half an hour, then it was impossible to keep the pace high given the 50 degrees. L'primary objective was survival, the changes have given us strength. From the point of view of human values, the group is of a high level, even if in terms of mental reactions we can still improve. Compared to the first few days, however, we are conceding less."
