Roma take third place, Milan don't let go. This is the summary of a championship Saturday that saw the Giallorossi and Rossoneri win and, more or less, convince. While waiting for Inter (tonight in Turin against Juventus) and Fiorentina (tomorrow at the Franchi against Napoli), the fight for the Champions League placement sees the strong and clear candidacies of Spalletti and Mihajlovic's men, now very fast after months of enormous difficulties.
Whoever is better off is certainly Roma, who have reached their sixth consecutive victory and are now the number one candidate for third place. Empoli's 3-1 certifies the goodness of Spalletti's work, capable of transforming Garcia's disastrous team into a real army. “We put in a heavy performance against a very strong and quality-rich opponent – commented the coach. – There are still some things to improve but the path is the right one, now we play with full awareness of our means ".
The great protagonist was Stephan El Shaarawy, literally regenerated by the Spalletti cure: with yesterday's brace the goals for the Giallorossi are 4 in 5 games, an average that seems to take the clock back to 3 years ago, when the Pharaoh enchanted on pitches all over Italy . It was he who unlocked the match with a splendid right from distance (5'), and it was always him who closed it with an undersized tap-in in the hottest phase of the match (74'). In between Zukanovic's unfortunate own goal (22', one of the very few chances Empoli conceded) and Pjanic's angry goal (27'), now back to the glories that had put him in the crosshairs of Barcelona and Real Madrid. A few hours later it was Milan's turn to take the 3 points, in a less spectacular but equally important victory.
A goal from Antonelli (44') was enough for the Rossoneri to get the better of Torino, at the end of a performance that wasn't exciting from a technical point of view but was very convincing in terms of character. “I liked the desire of the boys, the victory is deserved even if we suffered too much – Mihajlovic thought. – I believe in third place because the team is with me, I knew that with commitment and work we would have solved the problems. Now let's think match by match, on Tuesday there will be the Coppa Italia, another fundamental objective for us". The coach, on his ninth consecutive useful result, has more than one reason to smile: the players follow him blindly and the results, even if with a few too many worries, arrive on time.
Of course, the champagne football so loved by Berlusconi is not seen and, probably, will never be seen, on the other hand, however, generosity and competitive fury abound, so much so that third place, unthinkable until a few weeks ago, is once again a realistic goal. Rome and Milan are healed, there is no doubt about this now. Perhaps only one of them will make their dream come true, but in the meantime Fiorentina and Inter are warned: the Champions League placement will be a 4-way battle, perhaps the most exciting of the entire championship.
