No surprise. Napoli, Inter and Juventus do their duty against Sassuolo, Sampdoria and Lecce and continue their respective races in the standings, thus leaving everything unchanged. It will be up to Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Udinese and Roma to respond between today and tomorrow, otherwise Saturday's victories will move something big in the championship standings.
Napoli-Sassuolo 4-0, Spalletti: "The team deserves only applause and praise"
A resounding victory for Napoli, the umpteenth in an absolutely perfect season so far. The Azzurri don't seem to know the concept of "decrease in tension", nor are they affected by the many close matches. Yesterday too, against a theoretically fresher Sassuolo, the technical, physical and mental superpower came out right from the start, so much so that the first goal came after just 4' on the Kvaratskhelia-Osimhen axis, with the Georgian serving assists and the Nigerian to hole Tips. Scenario that was repeated in the 19th minute with Victor's second goal, before Khvicha decided to go it alone and score the 3-0 (36'). In short, the game ended in less than a time, even if in the second half Osimhen had the whim of taking the ball home with a hat-trick (77 ') which also closed the scoreboard. “We must applaud the team for this string of victories, I say thanks to the guys, they deserve a lot of praise – Spalletti's enthusiastic comment -. This is a group of true professionals, of guys who have fun and want to go looking for a goal. We keep looking for spaces to then go and score goals, these are decisions that are made while the ball travels and we need the right times, it's the players who have the keys to intuition, the genius to make important and quick plays".
Inter 3-0 Sampdoria, Inzaghi happy: "The month of October was almost perfect"
Inter also responded with a nice 3-0 win over Sampdoria, thus obtaining their second success in a row at San Siro without conceding a goal in less than three days. The match, on paper, didn't present any particular pitfalls, but the Nerazzurri were good at ensuring that reality followed the script exactly. De Vrij broke the deadlock with a header following a corner (21'), after which Barella doubled his lead by exploiting a splendid pass from Bastoni (44'), closing the match in less than one half. Too fragile, in fact, the Stankovic's Sam (highly acclaimed by all of San Siro as an ex never forgotten) to be able to create problems in the second half, in which Correa instead came out, so far one of the most disappointing in the season, very good at finding the 3-0 with a great shot at the end of a coast to coast (73'). "This is my best Inter, we are fine and we are confident – exclaimed Inzaghi -. We have to continue like this because nobody slows down, but we had an almost perfect month of October. We have to look at the calendar between now and the break because we have challenging matches, but we mustn't think about the standings, we're behind because we made a mistake earlier. Not only Napoli runs, but also the other top teams, but at the moment performance counts more”.
Lecce - Juventus 0-1, Allegri: "Important victory, young people bring recklessness and healthy madness"
Allegri's Juventus completed the perfect Saturday for the greats, who found their third consecutive league victory in Lecce. Decisive a goal of young Beans, sent onto the field by the coach at the beginning of the second half in place of a dull McKennie and very good at finding the right foot that decided the match (73'). Played by screaming that of the black and white boy, essential to break the yellow and red wall and give Max a very heavy victory, perhaps even decisive for the continuation of the season: finishing 12 behind Napoli, in fact, would have further depressed an environment already on its knees, putting even in the Champions League area, any desire for a comeback will be severely tested. “The boys played a good match, conceding only one shot to Lecce in the final, on which we were also a bit lucky – thought Allegri -. Beans? He's a strong-minded guy, reliable above all on a mental level, in football as in life you fall and get back up, you have to be a little reckless and have a healthy madness when things go wrong, face the storm in the best possible way and guys did it. This attitude is always needed, not only on the part of young people. If we are too rational we go nowhere. We were also good at 'switching' between the Champions League and the championship”.
Turin – Milan (20.45 pm, Dazn)
Tonight it will be the turn of Turin-Milan, with the Rossoneri forced to win in order not to lose ground against Napoli. It's a tricky match at the Olimpico, also because the Diavolo is back from the strains of Zagreb and on Wednesday, moreover, the qualifier will be played against Salzburg. The grenades, on the other hand, were able to concentrate all their energies on today's challenge, which is why the difference in values could level out and make the much more balanced match than you might think. Pioli, however, knows that the time to slow down has not yet arrived, not with this Napoli that flies and a ranking that is too short to afford missteps, so he will ask his team to grit their teeth and win 3 points which would be very heavy.
Pioli: "Focus on the present, this is the most important race"
“At the beginning of the season we set out with the aim of finishing as far forward as possible in the league on 13 November and with passing the group in the Champions League – the Rossoneri coach said -. Now we have 5 delicate games and this is the most important: meeting Juric's teams is stimulating, they force you to find solutions. I don't think it will be so decisive to be in the lead at the stop, but to score many points yes. About 85 are needed to win the scudetto, the more games you win in advance, the more stops you can afford after the second half...".
Turin – Milan, the formations: Pioli focuses on Diaz and Origi
However, the Rossoneri coach will not be able to avoid the turnover, like none of the rest. The close commitments require some rotation and he, thanks to the newfound abundance both in midfield and in attack, will behave accordingly by deploying a 4-2-3-1 with Tatarusanu in goal, Kalulu, Gabbia, Tomori and Hernandez in defense, Tonali and Pobega in midfield, Messias, Diaz and Leao in the frontline, Origi in attack. Juric, regenerated from the victory in Udine, will respond with a 3-4-2-1 with Milinkovic-Savic in goal, Djidji, Schuurs and Rodriguez in the back, Lazaro, Lukic, Ricci and Vojvoda in the midfield, Vlasic and Miranchuk behind of the sole Pellegri tip.
Lazio – Salernitana (18pm, Dazn)
To keep an eye on, in addition to Empoli-Atalanta (12.30) and Cremonese-Udinese (15), also Lazio-Salernitana, with the biancocelesti who, in case of victory, would become increasingly dangerous in the upper part of the standings. The commitment of the Olimpico might seem easy, but Sarri's team has already shown in the past to creak after the European commitments, the Campania team also did not leave Lotito well and will certainly play with a knife between their teeth. If the bar is as high as it has been in recent weeks, however, there won't be a match, because Lazio seen so far is really an interesting reality, even without its striker/captain Immobile. Furthermore, next Sunday there will be the derby with Roma and a win today would allow him to play from up front, regardless of what the Giallorossi do tomorrow in Verona.
