Is the Champions League here? After Saturday with a view to the Scudetto, it's time to experience an equally important Sunday, with Rome, Naples, Atalanta and Lazio engaged in an exciting and absolutely unpredictable head-to-head match. The most spectacular challenge should be Atalanta-Lazio (15 pm), in the second act in a few days after Wednesday's one in the Italian Cup. The Nerazzurri 3-2 is still very fresh and it could also affect today's match, even if it's another tournament, therefore another world.
“Wednesday was tough, also because we played 40 minutes outnumbered, but we're having a good time, there's enthusiasm from everyone, the results are coming and the spirit is right – explained Gasperini -. The season is abnormal, we played a lot of games yet we are only halfway there. We are satisfied because we are in everything, but in 2 points you can be in the Champions League area or outside the Europa League”. Inzaghi knows something about it, on the grill before Christmas and now back in the running thanks to the four consecutive victories collected: if the fifth arrives today, the Champions League area could be really close.
“Wednesday we played an excellent game, playing better for long stretches, then there were some individual mistakes that compromised qualification, but now it's useless to think about it – glossed over the Biancoceleste coach -. The second round begins and there are nineteen days to go, so far we have put aside a decent amount of loot, also thinking about the qualification obtained in the Champions League. However, we know that to finish in the top four we will have to do something more, perhaps even to finish in the top six".
The Gewiss Stadium match looks like a real watershed, after which nothing will be the same again. Gasperini will have to give up the suspended Gosens, the injured Hateboer and the positive at Covid Romero: heavy absences, which will force him into a more reworked 3-4-1-2 than usual with Gollini in goal, Toloi, Palomino and Djimsiti in defense, Maehle, De Roon, Freuler and Ruggeri in midfield, Pessina behind the offensive couple composed by Ilicic and Zapata.
An almost typical formation instead for Inzaghi (only Luiz Felipe is missing), who will respond with a 3-5-2 made up of Reina between the posts, Patric, Acerbi and Radu in defense, Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic, Lucas Leiva, Luis Alberto and Marusic in the median, Correa and Immobile in attack. Immediately after the match in Bergamo it will be time to move to Maradona, where Napoli will receive Parma (18pm). A very delicate match for both, with the Azzurri forced to win to cling to the ranking that counts and the ducals to get out of the relegation zone.
However, the pressure is all on Gattuso, whose position remains shaky: the success of the Coppa Italia, in fact, was not enough to consolidate an increasingly difficult relationship with De Laurentiis, at least according to the drafts coming from Castel Volturno. To put things back in order, or at least to restore some serenity, a string of victories is needed starting today, when Gattuso, thanks to Mertens' absence (his ankle still hurts) and his form is not Osimhen's optimal, he will return to last season's 4-3-3 with Ospina in goal, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly and Mario Rui in defense, Elmas, Demme and Zielinski in midfield, Lozano, Petagna and Insigne in attack.
The same game system also for D'Aversa, who will respond with Sepe between the posts, Conti, Iacoponi, Gagliolo and Pezzella in the back department, Grassi, Hernani and Kurtic in the midfield, Kucka, Cornelius and Gervinho in the offensive trident. Very tense climate also at the Olimpico, theater of postponement between Rome and Verona (20.45 pm). Here the viewfinder moves to Fonseca, whose bench remains unsafe despite the victory over Spezia and the apparent support of the club.
Yes, because if on the one hand the Friedkins have taken his side (see the Dzeko case), on the other they continue to evaluate different solutions: how to explain, if not, the meeting between the new general manager Thiago Pinto and Allegri on Thursday in Milan? But it is above all the Dzeko question that poisons the climate, destined, barring twists and turns, to remain in the Capital at least until June: here too it is legitimate to ask whether his situation as a separate person at home (even today, after a week of training away from the group, he will go to the stands) can be managed without creating further turmoil.
“I understand the curiosity about Edin, but this is not the time to talk about it – Fonseca cut short -. There has been too much speculation, we have to focus only on Verona, we'll talk about it again next week. Are we destabilized? Just look at what we did with Spezia, the pitch speaks…”. But with all due respect to the Ligurians, however beaten in full recovery with a daring 4-3, Juric's Verona is quite another thing, which is why tonight we will really understand if the team and the coach are still one.
Fonseca embraces Mkhitaryan again and he's ready to relaunch him from the start in a 3-4-2-1 with Pau Lopez in goal, Mancini, Smalling and Ibanez in defense, Karsdorp, Villar, Veretout and Spinazzola in midfield, Pellegrini in the trocar, Borja Mayoral in attack. Juric, for his part, dreams of another coup after the one against Napoli and is ready to deploy a mirror system with Silvestri between the posts, Dawidowicz, Gunter, Dimarco and Faraoni in the back, Ilic, Tameze and Lazovic in the midfield, Zaccagni and Barak behind new signing Lasagna, who arrived this week from Udinese.
