It’s a Downhill Race from now on in Serie A
It’s a Downhill Race from now on in Serie A
By Mirko Corli
Serie A enters into its final month: four matches to go now & Roma are still leading the table one point above defending champions Inter.
The weekend was tough for both of the two leading teams but they secured two vital wins for the title race. On friday night Inter defeated Juventus 2-0 in San Siro with a stunning goal by Douglas Maicon (probably the best of the entire league so far) and a late goal by Eto'o, putting a huge amount of pressure on Roma.
Ranieri’s lads were in a dramatic situation after one minute of the second half of their Roman clash against Lazio. The Biancocelesti were 1-0 up with Rocchi’s 5th goal in a derby and with a penalty kick in hand. Then Lazio’s Floccari missed the penalty and the game changed. Mirko Vucinic scored a double to put Roma back on top of the league.
To win Serie A you have to be a strong and impressive team, and you also have to be a little lucky. The competition is so intense, so demanding for the players, you definitely need a little bit of lack to be on top at the end of the race. If we look back at the last few matches, Roma’s has luck on their side. The missed penalty by Floccari is just another sign of that, not to mention Inter’s three hit posts in the last three games.
The competition will be very fiery until the last minute of the championship. Next week Inter will host Atalanta in San Siro (Atalanta is now two points below the place that avoids relegation) and Roma will host Sampdoria (in 4th place right now, two points above Palermo). Inter will play on Saturday afternoon, while Roma will play on Sunday night, knowing their rivals’ result.
Looking at the rest of the league matches we can now comfortably say that Livorno will be playing in Serie B next year (2-0 defeat in Verona against Chievo, who are now safe) alongside Siena (2-2 in Catania for Malesani’s lads).
Atalanta (2-1 at home against Fiorentina) still has a bit of hope of avoiding relegation since they are 2 points below now-safe Bologna (1-1 in Udinese) and 3 points below Lazio.
For the Champions League spot Sampdoria is now 4th after winning at home against AC Milan (2-1 with a fantastic comeback by Cassano and Pazzini scoring in injury time) and the big threat for them seems to be only Palermo (2-2 in Cagliari).
Juventus will probably land into Europa League, even if now the two places for Europe’s second trophy are occupied by Palermo and Napoli (the Partenopei won 2-1 in Bari with a double from Lavezzi).
Some outliers of the match day were certainly Parma (2-3 loss at home against Genoa) and Fiorentina (2-1 loss in Bergamo), who said farewell to their European chances this weekend.
Next up: Champions League.
Inter will face Barcelona in San Siro on tuesday night. I’ll be there for them and for you also, trying to support the guys and get them into the final ;-) At least I hope so!
