The gauntlet is thrown down. There Roma not caught unprepared and grabs second place in the standings just two points from Juventus leaders, moreover in cohabitation precisely with that Milan which has reduced the distances. The 4-1 against Palermo is a convincing and authoritative showdown, as if the Giallorossi wanted to shout their candidacy for the title to the world. “It's still too early to say if we're anti-Juve – he glossed over Spalletti. – The teams have to find the definitive balance, and then I continue to see too much tension in the boys. In any case, giving continuity to our journey was fundamental, we took advantage of the opportunity and got close to the summit".
A match without history that of the Olimpico and not only for technical reasons. In fact, this time the Giallorossi have also got their attitude right, which is often the team's real limit. Right from the start it was understood that Palermo would have little chance of leaving the capital unscathed, and when Salah he unlocked the match with a close left foot (31') and Roma took off. The doubling came at the start of the second half with Paredes (51', with the “kind” collaboration of Posavec), then Jackor rounded off the result with a nice precision shot (68'). The goal of Quaison (80') was used only for the match report, just like that of El Shaarawy (82'), the last ring of an evening with strong yellow and red hues.
Sunday of joy also for Sarri's Naples, winning again after three consecutive league and cup defeats. The trip to Crotone was anything but prohibitive but the Azzurri still had to respond to the criticisms, as well as take advantage of Juve's misstep to regain ground in the standings. Mission accomplished right from the start of the game: in the 17th minute, in fact, after having already come close to scoring, Napoli took the lead with Callejon, pungent again like a few weeks ago. On 30' the only negative note of the day: Gabbiadini's crazy reaction on the Ferrari he led Mazzoleni to draw a sacrosanct red card. However, the Azzurri did not suffer the consequences of the gesture, on the contrary they immediately found a double with Maximovich, also lucky to deflect into the net following a corner (33'). In the second half, good management of the ball and the stopwatch, without particularly suffering Crotone, who however found the goal with the flag with almost time expired (90 '). “There were difficult conditions but we managed the game well, even outnumbered for over an hour. Now let's just think about healing and getting back to the shape we had a few weeks ago. I'm just sorry for seagulls, unfortunately he will now be disqualified. He is closed and introverted and being the center of attention doesn't help him. He just needs serenity ”. The same one that may have found Napoli, now 4 points behind leaders Juventus. And after the midweek round (the Bianconeri at home with Sampdoria, Rome in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo, the Azzurri at San Paolo with Empoli) there will be a direct match in Turin.
