Italian officials nevertheless decided to continue the Italian championship, so this weekend the matches of the twenty-sixth round were completed, which, in general, turned out to be very productive and eventful. Maurizio Sarri's team won the main match between Juventus and Inter. Once again, during this season, the “old lady” showed her class and made it clear that she did not intend to hand over the championship crown to anyone. The players of the capital's Lazio won their next victory, who, thanks to the transfers of their competitors, even topped the table for some time. The match in Sardinia turned out to be hot, where Roma managed to defeat the local Cagliari in a deadly shootout. Atalanta continues to perform spectacularly. This time, Gian Piero Gasperini's squad simply destroyed Lecce on the road with a score of 7:2, and Colombian Duvan Zapata scored a hat-trick. Gennaro Gattuso's team won their third victory in a row. The Napoli players defeated Torino in their home country with a score of 2:1 and strengthened their position in the European Cup zone. The formidable coach worked well with the Neapolitans, although a month ago they were barely in the top ten. Among other results, I would like to note the away victories of outsiders in the person of Genoa and the SPAL club. These teams continue to actively fight for survival, and the team from Genoa has officially left the relegation zone for the first time in a long time. So, it's not only hot at the top standings, but also at the very bottom.
Juventus beat Inter in front of empty stands
In the main match not only of the entire tour, but also, possibly, of the entire championship, Juventus of Turin and Inter Milan met. Despite all the postponements and threats of cancellation, the meeting took place, but in front of empty stands, which added a unique flavor. Cristiano Ronaldo clearly took this with humor, because immediately after entering the field, the Portuguese applauded the imaginary fans. The teams started the meeting very carefully, but then the Turin team took control of the ball and created a couple of dangerous chances. In one of these, Blaise Matuidi made a great low shot, but the visitors were rescued by Samir Handanovic, who had returned to action after an injury. Only towards the end of the first half did the Milanese manage to come up with something more or less dangerous near the Szczesny goal, but the Polish goalkeeper managed to cope with a long-range shot from Marcelo Brozovic. In general, the first half, and the whole match as a whole, was similar to a game of chess, where the main characters were the mentors. Maurzio Sarri set his players up better for the second half. Ten minutes after the start of the second half, the Turin team opened the scoring. Aaron Ramsey received the ball in the penalty area and turned irresistibly from six meters out. After this, the coaches exchanged replacements. And in this component, Sarri again turned out to be stronger than Conte, because almost immediately the change in the Juventus coach bore fruit. Fresh Paulo Dybala, together with Ramsey, unraveled the Inter defense and doubled the “old lady’s” lead with a stylish goal. Checkmate from Sarri. The guests tried to offer at least something against the powerful Turin team, but the “black and whites” played exemplary defense and cut off the oxygen supply to all attacking players of the Milan team. He could have brought the matter to the defeat of Cristiano Ronaldo already in stoppage time, but twice the Portuguese missed the target from the most advantageous positions. Thus it was cut short outstanding series from scoring matches in a row. And this happened in the Portuguese’s thousandth match. But “Juventus” won a very confident victory in the most important match for itself over its competitor and showed that it is still the main contender for the championship. After this defeat, Inter almost officially drops out of the championship race. Antonio Conte's guys couldn't withstand the pressure and frankly deflated in the distance. It’s a shame, but there is a feeling that in a couple of years an experienced coach will be able to build a team that will still move Juventus off the golden pedestal.
"Lazio" wins and continues the pursuit of the "old lady"
While competitors were forced to rest due to the threat of coronavirus infection, Simone Inzaghi’s team not only played all their matches, but also won. In their native walls, the capital's "eagles" quite confidently dealt with the strong "Bologna". Almost from the starting whistle, a flurry of attacks hit the guests' goal, and only by some miracle did Joaquin Correa and Luis Alberto not open the scoring in the first minutes. The best sniper of the Italian championship, Ciro Immobile, could soon be different, but the Roman scorer was terribly unlucky in the final stage of the attack. In the middle of the first half, Lazio finally broke through, which resulted in two goals within a few minutes of each other. First, Luis Alberto scored a goal, who famously shot from about eighteen meters after a pass from Immobile. Then Joaquin Correa scored. On the third attempt, the Lazio forward managed to hit Skorupski, albeit with a little help from visiting defender Danilo. After this, the game noticeably calmed down, as the Romans achieved their goal, and the two-goal advantage gave them the opportunity to play defensively and were in no hurry. Bologna failed to create anything interesting in attack in the first half. But in the second half, Sinisa Mikhailovich’s team acted much more interestingly. Almost immediately after the break, Densville managed to win one goal back, heading in a flank pass. But the refereeing team canceled this goal, as the Bologna player clearly played along with his hand. Twenty minutes later, Bologna scored again, and again this goal was canceled by the refereeing team. This time, in the attack that ended with Tomiyasu's goal, the referee saw an offside position, so that as many as two Bologna goals in the second half were canceled out. Even despite this disappointing fact, the guests did not give up and harassed Strakosha several more times, but the shots of Sansone and Barrow did not reach the goal. The final whistle recorded another victory for Lazio, thanks to which the Roman team continues to follow on the heels of Juventus of Turin. If the Eagles suddenly win the championship at the end of the season, then such a development will definitely become a huge sensation in all of European football.
Roma wins shootout against Cagliari
A very fun match took place in Cagliari, where the local team of the same name played against another team from the capital, Roma. Already in the first ten minutes, the Romans could have scored at least four times, but Cagliari goalkeeper Robin Olsen worked wonders at the last line. The Swedish goalkeeper pulled crazy shots from Mkhitaryan, Kalinic and Perez. By the middle of the first half, the hosts managed to push the game away from their goal, which quickly resulted in a goal being scored. After a long throw from Oliva, Joao Pedro took the ball skillfully and then fired powerfully from outside the penalty area past Pau Lopez. Already in the next attack, the “wolves” managed to restore the status quo after a blunder by the hosts’ defender Luca Pellegrini. The ex-Roma player made a bad shot football projectile in his own penalty area right at Kalinic's feet. The Croatian forward took advantage of this gift with great pleasure. A few minutes before the half-time whistle, Henrikh Mkhitaryan broke through the defenders and crossed to Kalinic. It was not difficult for Nikola to poke the ball past Olsen from a few meters away. The guests from the capital could have increased their advantage in the opening of the second half, but Justin Kluivert managed to hit the crossbar from an advantageous position. True, about ten minutes later the son of the legendary football player scored a goal. After an elegant pass with Kalinich, the Dutch forward famously fired into the near corner. For some reason, the guests relaxed after that, as fresh Gaston Pereiro, with the full connivance of the Roman defense, reduced the difference in the score to a minimum. The last ten minutes were very hot. First, Aleksandar Kolarov took either a shot or a free kick. None of the partners or opponents touched the ball, so the sphere slipped into Olsen’s goal. The Sardinians did not give up until the last moment, because last minutes they managed to earn a penalty. Joao Pedro approached the point, but the Brazilian failed to shoot through Pau Lopez on his first attempt. But Cagliari’s best sniper was the first to finish off and revived the intrigue again. It’s just that the hosts no longer have the strength to save the draw, so the final result is a laborious away victory for Roma with a score of 4:3. “Wolves” under the leadership of Paulo Fonseca are strengthening in fifth place in the European Cup.
Atalanta mocked Lecce
Atalanta staged another demolition of the opponent. The Bergamo team went to visit Lecce and destroyed one of the Serie A outsiders with an extremely indecent score. By the twenty-second minute, Gian Piero Gasperini's squad led with a two-goal advantage. First, Ilicic's cross was closed by Lecce defender Giulio Donati, who scored an own goal, and then the Slovenian's pass was completed by his own, namely Duvan Zapata. Lecce did not give up and before the break, by some miracle, they managed to not only reduce the difference in the score to a minimum, but also completely restore the status quo. The goals were scored by Riccardo Saponara and Giulio Donati, who corrected the ball into his own goal. After the break, the Bergamo team clearly came out very sportingly angry and motivated, as almost immediately Josip Ilicic shot past Gabriel after Gomez's pass. With courage, the guests quickly scored two more goals. Atalanta's Colombian forward Duvan Zapata completed the game with a hat-trick. It seems that the teams should have played out the ending at a calmer pace, but Gasperini successfully made substitutions and freshmen Ruslan Malinovsky and Luis Muriel also did not leave the field without scoring a goal. As a result, Atalanta simply tore Lecce to pieces on their own field with a score of 7:2. Gasperini's team continues to retain its status as the most fun and scoring team in Serie A. And the Bergamo team retained fourth place, even despite various transfers.
Third consecutive victory for Napoli and defeat for Verona in Genoa
Slowly Napoli gained a decent momentum. Gennaro Gattuso's team at home managed, not without difficulty, but still to defeat the distressed Torino. The home side quickly took control of the ball and took the lead through the efforts of Lorenzo Insigne and Kostas Manolas. The Neapolitan leader made a cool serve, which the Greek defender confidently turned into a scored goal. The Napoli players could have scored in the first half, but Insigne and Milik were unable to capitalize on their promising chances. The second half turned out to be more intense, as the Turin Bulls began to act a little more confidently and even began to create chances, but David Ospina acted reliably. The denouement came in the last ten minutes. Eight minutes before final whistle It seems that Giovanni Di Lorenzo dotted all the i's, completing the pass from Dries Mertens. But the guests from Turin did not give up and already in stoppage time they got one goal back through the efforts of Simone Eder. It’s just that Torino didn’t have enough for more, because the players had run out of strength and time had run out. Final result This confrontation is a minimal home victory for Napoli with a score of 2:1, which allows Gattuso’s team to strengthen their position in the top six.
Quite unexpectedly, Verona lost away. Ivan Jurich's team could have broken into the top 6, but they missed such a great opportunity and lost to Sampdoria. It all started quite well for the “yellow-blues”. Verona played well in the first half and towards the end they were even able to open the scoring. After Zaccagni's kick, Audero made a mistake, from which the football projectile flew into the goal. However, many chalked this goal up to the visiting striker. In the second half, Sampdoria gathered its strength, but for a long time Claduio Ranieri’s squad could not break through Marco Silvestri, who had caught some serious courage. Everything was decided in the last fifteen minutes, when the most experienced forward Fabio Quagliarella took over the game. First, the legendary striker blocked Depaoli's pass and restored the status quo, and three minutes before the end of normal time he volunteered to take the penalty for Ekdal's demolition. From the point, Quagliarella was accurate. The guests tried to come up with something else in the last minutes, but it was too late. The final whistle sealed Sampdoria's strong-willed victory with a score of 2:1. However, this success did not really protect the club from Genoa from the relegation zone. It’s still a stone’s throw away, so it’s still too early for Ranieri’s squad to relax. The whole struggle for survival is still ahead.
Unexpected guest quizzes from outsiders
The outsiders do not give up, they really want to stay in Serie A next season. Genoa, after the appointment of Davide Nicola as head coach, has changed before our eyes. The main club of Genoa has won its third victory in the last four matches and even finally left the relegation zone. The “red-blues” defeated Milan on the road, which no one expected. The Genoa players generally reserved the first half for themselves, sending two unanswered goals into the goal of Asmir Begovic, who replaced the injured Donnarumma. First, the most experienced Macedonian Goran Pandev scored a goal, and then Francesco Cassata completed the pass to Lasse Schene. “Milan” only recovered from the shock in the second half and flew to recoup. Thanks to the efforts of the iconic Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the “red-blacks” won back one goal, but the Milanese didn’t have enough for more. As a result, Milan not only lost to an avid outsider at home with a score of 1:2, but also missed the opportunity to rise to sixth place in the European Cup.
Even more surprising was the SPAL club, which managed to take three points from Parma. The home team immediately took control of the field and confidently held the advantage. It’s just that this didn’t translate into goals scored. In the second half, the Parmesans loosened their grip, for which they paid for it in the seventieth minute. For violation of the rules, a penalty was awarded against Valoti. SPAL's best sniper Andrea Petagna approached the spot and confidently carried out the punishment. Only after this did Parma coach Roberto D’Aversa decide to change something, but even the hosts couldn’t score enough to score one saving goal. The final whistle of Luca Pairetto sealed the almost sensational victory of the SPAL team in Parma with a minimal score of 1:0. All is not lost for the modest team from Ferrara this season.
Confident victory for Sassuolo and zeros in Udine
The Sassuolo players dealt with the distressed Brescia without any problems. The “green-blacks” had a huge advantage, but they couldn’t break through the visitors’ Finnish goalkeeper Jesse Joronen for a very long time. As a result, just before the whistle for the break, Francesco Caputo opened the scoring after a pass from Defrel. In the second half, the overall pattern of the game did not change much, except that Sassuolo managed to score not one, but two goals. First, it was Caputo who brought the matter to a double, and fifteen minutes before the final whistle, everything was dotted by Jeremy Boga, who set the final score of this match - 3:0 in favor of the "Neroverdi", who are almost in the top ten thanks to this success . Brescia has now fallen to the very bottom and occupies last place in the standings.
Fiorentina managed to take one point away from Udine. The club from Florence still cannot find stability, so each match is given to the “violets” with great difficulty. So in the match with the unyielding Udinese, the “purples” had a very hard time. The hosts, who usually play defensively, decided to try on the role of number one and did a good job of putting pressure on Fiorentina’s defenders and goalkeeper. Several times the Polish goalkeeper of the Florentines, Bartlomiej Drongowski, even openly saved the game. In the second half, the game leveled off, but it never came to real scoring chances and, in fact, goals. As a result, a goalless draw, which both teams can be happy with.
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