A weekend so wild in Serie A, we even had to wait for the Monday night cracker. We Had Ronaldo in the goals, AC Milan coming from behind and then two heavyweight clashes to see out the weekend. First, Napoli took on Roma at the San Paulo hoping to keep pace with Juventus. Then, Inter Milan travelled to Rome to take on Lazio, where Lazio were hoping to take revenge after Inter stole their Champions League spot last season.
Serie A Weekend: Inter Milan and Juventus Keep Winning
Juventus
It all got underway with Juventus travelling to Empoli, one of the worst sides in Serie A. Empoli sit 18th with only six points from ten games. But still, they took the lead against Juve thanks to a lovely effort from Francesco Caputo. They played really well in the first half and went into half-time hoping to hold onto their 1-0 lead.
The sad thing is, we all knew it would not last. Nine minutes into the second half, Paulo Dybala was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty. That spot-kick was promptly scored by Cristiano Ronaldo, evaporating the Empoli lead. Then, 15 minutes later, Ronaldo found the ball on the outside of the box and unleashed a wicked shot into the far corner. It’s probably Ronaldo’s best goal for Juve and it ensured an important three points.
Milan
Next, let’s take a look at AC Milan, who were hosting Sampdoria in need of a win. They lost at home midweek to Real Betis in the Europa League and Gattuso’s head may be next if they lost another game at home. Gattuso changed the system, finally starting Patrick Cutrone up front with Gonzalo Higuain, like many fans had been asking for.
It worked straight away when Cutrone scored in the 17th minute. Milan thought from there they could cruise to victor but Sampdoria had other ideas – they scored two goals in the space of ten minutes, one by Riccardo Saponara and assisted by Fabio Quagliarella and another visa-versa. But their 2-1 lead did not last long either because just before half-time, Cutrone played a lovely reverse pass to Higuain, who scored.
The second-half could never live up to the first but Milan didn’t care because they got the goal they needed. And, of course, it was scored by Suso. The Spaniard sized up a shot, cutting in on his favored left foot, and hammered it home to give Milan a crucial three points. Those three points jumped Milan up to fifth in the table with still a game in hand, despite the nerves.
Napoli v Roma
Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli have been on a fine run of form these past few weeks, beating Liverpool and Sassuolo while going away to the Parc de Princes and drawing against Paris Saint-Germain. This weekend, it was Roma coming to visit them needing a win. Ancelotti has settled into a 4-4-2 system with this side, usually playing Lorenzo Insigne up front with Dries Mertens or Arkadiusz Milik. For this week against Roma, it was Milik with Insigne.
But it was Roma’s attack that got the game started when a lovely cutback by Cengiz Under found Stephan El Shaarawy in the middle of the box. He side-footed a lovely finish off the inside of the far post for the opener. It was a much-needed goal for Roma who, at kick-off, sat ninth. From there on, Roma allowed Napoli to have a lot of the ball, trying to stay stout defensively.
For large parts of the game, it worked quite well. Napoli took 26 shots but only five of those were on target. As those shots kept coming, the feeling that Roma would hold on grew. However, to everyone’s surprise, they did not! In the 90th minute, Dries Mertens got on the end of a cross from Jose Callejon and scored the equalising goal.
Lazio v Inter
Finally, a game so good we had to wait until Monday for it to be played. The last time these two sides met, Inter stole a Champions League slot from Lazio on the final day of last season. Lazio were hoping that Inter’s first trip to the Stadio Olympico this season would give them a good chance for revenge.
But when you face up against Inter, there is one man you need to stop; Mauro Icardi. Last week’s derby goalscorer got the game going after some lovely work from Ivan Perisic. Then in the 41st minute, Marcelo Brozovic curled a lovely left footed shot into the corner and, just like that, Inter were up 2-0.
The Nerazzurri have been on fire in the league and after a hot Lazio start in the second half took back control of this game. And by the 80th minute, Icardi had scored again and Inter were cruising to their eventual 3-0 win.
The Table
Juventus still sit atop with 28 points, but they are starting to bunch up behind them. Inter and Napoli are level on 22 points, and Lazio sit fourth on 18. Then from fifth-placed AC Milan to 15th-placed Atalanta, there is a gap of just three points – fascinating stuff from this outstanding Serie A season.
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