Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Another guest article now and Filippo Festuccia returns with an extensive review of all the action in both Weeks 34 and 35 of Serie A. You can follow Filippo on Twitter here @FilippoFest. Over to you Filippo
Double duty this time for Serie A teams, with a mid-week round that proved crucial for the season as a whole. Juventus are now officially the champions, for the fifth consecutive time – a feat they only achieved once before, in the 1930s, and only equalled by Inter from 2006 to 2010. Juve crushed Lazio and sneaked out with a win against Fiorentina, proving once again that they won because they can tip the crucial moments in a game in their favour, either because Buffon saves a penalty or because Pogba wakes up and assists a teammate (11 times this year, a career-high for the frenchman).
Roma found inner peace with their captain, the evergreen Francesco Totti, who made news around the world for the two goals in two minutes against Torino and proved very beneficial in his team’s defeat of Napoli, again as a “supersubstitute” (he is 40, after all). In a Serie A largely devoid of stars, the two survivors of Italy’s golden generation – Buffon and Totti – make all the difference in the world. Roma, despite all the suffering in easy games, is now practically certain of a Champions League spot, with a 7 point advantage over the ever-erratic Inter, who lost a weird game against Genoa and defeated Udinese 3-1. The nerazzurri are quite sure to finish 4th, since Fiorentina has 5 points less with only three games to go. Napoli and Roma are only separated by 2 points, which means that a draw in the next three matches could prove catastrophic for Napoli, as it would entail a Champions League playoff instead of a guaranteed place in the group stage.
There is one more duel at the top and it’s between Milan and Sassuolo, separated by one point. The rossoneri are banking on winning the Coppa Italia final to snatch a Europa League group stage spot, but Juventus is in their way, and if they lose 6th position to Sassuolo they will find themselves out of European football next season (which, considering the upcoming Copa America and Euro 2016 tournaments, as well as the Olympics, could be a blessing in disguise anyway). Milan is struggling greatly, and the firing of manager Sinisa Mihajlovic has not worked as a wakeup call for the team: under the new manager Cristian Brocchi, Milan has gotten 4 out of 9 points in very easy games, including a loss against dead-last Verona (even more painful considering that a win was not enough for Verona to stay in the relegation fight).
Carpi (who drew Milan and defeated Empoli) looks almost clear of relegation, sitting at 3 points over Palermo and 5 over Frosinone, as Palermo and Frosinone squared off this weekend – Palermo won convincingly, but it might be too little, too late, while Frosinone can only think about all the other games they could have won but threw away. However, Carpi will play Juventus next week, which will give Palermo (facing Sampdoria) an interesting chance to close the gap, while Frosinone will go to San Siro hoping that Milan keeps being absent-minded – something the rossoneri can clearly not afford, as it will be Sassuolo’s turn to face a now hopeless Verona.
Thanks Filippo, make sure to keep an eye out for his review for Week 36 next week and also subsequent articles between now and the end of the season.
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