The league has a new boss. We are talking about Sarri's Napoli, capable of closing this semi-autumn tranche better than all, even of Allegri's Juventus and thus taking first place alone. Gasperini's Atalanta took care of certifying the overtaking, another great revelation of the tournament, very good at believing it until the end and even making up 2 goals for the Lady, all just 4 days after the efforts in Lyon.
In short, for the first time in a long time, we are witnessing a changing of the guard up there and if it is true that it is still too early to make definitive judgments, it is also true that this Napoli, to date, is certainly the strongest team in the championship. The numbers don't explain everything but they are almost always very indicative: with yesterday's 3 goals against Cagliari, the Azzurri confirm by far the best attack (25 in 7 days, for an average of over 3 per game) and given that the defenses are equal (5 conceded for both) you understand why these 2 points of difference in the standings.
"It's been said for six years that we could annoy Juve but in the end they win..." Sarri had glossed over in the early afternoon, a low-profile that goes well with the character, a little less with a square that now dreams of eyes open a tricolor difficult but not impossible to achieve. The 3-0 over Cagliari once again confirmed the growth of a group that no longer suffers from the blackouts of the past, but which actually seems to win matches even before playing them.
Hamsik (4'), Mertens (40' from a penalty) and Koulibaly (47') literally joked with the Sardinians, unable to create even a semblance of danger near Reina, and launched the team into first place alone, albeit delayed burst.
Yes, because for the "official stamp" of the overtaking it took a great Atalanta, very good at mentally keeping up with a Juventus who played very strong yet dropped at a distance. The opposite of the players from Bergamo, who appeared tired and exhausted at the start of the game and instead proved to be more than on the spot for the entire second part, as demonstrated by the comeback that brought them from 0-2 to 2-2.
An awkward match for the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, in which the Var also played a rather important role: his was the annulment of a goal by Mandzukic for an elbow by Lichtsteiner on Gomez (right, as well as the booking for the Swiss ), his also a penalty in favor of Juve for an alleged arm of Petagna (which instead seems to touch with the shoulder).
If Dybala had scored, thus allowing his team to grab Napoli, the controversies would go on at least until the end of the break, instead Berisha got everyone to agree and the 2-2 remained so until the end. And to think that Juve found themselves 2-0 up after 24' thanks to the first Juventus center from Bernardeschi (21') and that of the rediscovered Higuain (24'), then Caldara (31', ironically already bought by Marotta and Paratici) had reopened the games by putting the match back in balance.
The goal of the final draw was signed by Cristante with a great header (67'), before an explosive finish which however did not change the scenarios. "We're sorry for the result because we played a good game, even if in the end we risked losing it too - commented Allegri - We left two points but we will continue to fight with Napoli, Inter and Roma for the Scudetto". The championship therefore stops with a change of the guard that causes discussion and which promises to ignite the race for the title even more, all the more with a calendar that, upon return, will give us Roma-Napoli and Juventus-Lazio. 15 days to go but the countdown has already begun.
