Sunday that decided the sprint for the richest Europe: Allegri and Spalletti smile, Fabregas and Gasperini cry. And who dreamed of an emotional season finale.
Who will finish second behind Inter who won the championship? And who will remain outside of Europe in a situation that also keeps in mind the outcome of the Italian Cup with Lazio and Atalanta who could return through the window after being excluded from the main door? There is a month left until the end of the championship, but the truth is that emotions are reduced to the bare minimum and if Inter’s escape to the top was in some way expected (but not with this rapid evolution), the same cannot be said of the Champions League sprint.
Honey, the championship has narrowed down. Day number 33 dug a gap between those who can and those who cannot. It is true that Napoli’s defeat against Lazio was unexpected, but the combination of the winning spurts of Milan and Juventus with the collapse of Como and the slow pace of Roma gave an almost definitive indication of who will sit at the table in the richest of Europe.
Milan, 9 points to defend for the Champions League zone
Milan and Juventus made the break and in the case of the Rossoneri it was a definitive breakthrough. We could discuss the quality of Allegri’s football and also his performance in Verona throughout the summer, but the result doesn’t leave much room for debate. An essential Milan, extremely practical and once again capable of protecting themselves and the little they produce up front, returned home from the Bentegodi with the three points they needed to immediately close the crisis that had opened.
The lengths of advantage over the fifth are enormous: 8 points plus the bonus of direct clashes in favor and with How that with Rome. Also absorbed was yet another tasteless game from Leao and the new absence of the attackers: a razor from Rabiot decided. Verona’s boorish whistles were silenced. The finally clear opening regarding Allegri’s stay at Milanello also next season has been received. It couldn’t have gone better than this for Milan but only those who don’t want to read the story are surprised CV of the technician from Livorno who never in his career on the bench of a big team failed to land in the first four.
Spalletti and Juventus, decisive acceleration
There are categories and categories and in this specialty Max is almost unique. Juventus is also smiling now and not at all obvious given that within a few seconds of the end of the match against Roma at the Olimpico (1st March) they had virtually fallen to 7 points behind the Giallorossi and a foot and a half out of the Champions League. The victory against Bologna was the third victory in a row, also convincing for how it arrived and with all the pieces in the right place. The direct clash with Milan will take place at San Siro in a week’s time, which will have less emotional load than one might expect.
Also for Spalletti we can talk about categories. The summary is that the two most experienced and successful coaches of recent years managed to ferry their respective teams to the ports chosen at the beginning of the journey, perhaps with some storms to overcome but with a certain advance. Others were satisfied with partial successes and when it was time to tighten up they disappeared.
