A late strike saw Luciano Spalletti’s men close in on domestic glory at the weekend, but who were all the stars and strugglers in Serie A? Giancarlo Rinaldi gives you the round-up.
The Scudetto race is over and done with – you could get the feeling from the celebrations at the full-time whistle at the Allianz Stadium this weekend. The fiery fixture between Juventus and Napoli was the standout clash in Italian football but there were plenty of other talking points. Who shone and who slumped over another set of intriguing matches?
Winners
If Verona wriggle their way out of the relegation mire they might well have to put up a statue to Simone Verdi. He has been an inconsistent performer for much of his career but when he gets it right, he is a talent that is hard to handle. He turned on the style against Bologna to give a precious three points to Hellas which kept alive their survival hopes. With Sampdoria and Cremonese looking doomed, if the boys from the Bentegodi stay afloat they will owe a debt to the Torino loanee.
After all the question marks about his form and racist chants in his direction it will have pleased Romelu Lukaku to be back among the goals at the weekend. Inter celebrated their Champions League semi-final qualification by easily sweeping aside Empoli and he grabbed himself a couple of strikes. There is no doubt the big Belgian has underperformed this season and looks set to depart again in the summer but he could still have a huge say in how the Nerazzurri finish the campaign both domestically and on the continent. If he does, it might yet convince Inter that he has a future with them.
He hasn’t had a lot of football this season but when called upon in the weekend’s biggest game Giacomo Raspadori did not let Napoli down. Outshone by Victor Osimhen and, at times, even Giovanni Simeone, he popped up late in the day against Juventus to deliver a victory which definitely had a Scudetto-like perfume. That it came after two disallowed goals for the Bianconeri will only have made it sweeter for the travelling fans of the Partenopei who are already planning how to celebrate making things official this weekend.
Losers
After a lengthy winning run which put them among the most in-form sides in Europe – Fiorentina have come down to earth with a bump in recent days. Having tried their best to throw away a three-goal lead against Lech Poznan in Europe, they successfully lost a two-goal advantage to Monza at the weekend. Credit has to go to Raffaele Palladino’s side and Gianluca Caprari in particular but still the Viola played a part in their own downfall. Conceding another goal to a long punt from a goalkeeper tells its own story and will have their supporters edgy despite a healthy advantage to defend in the Coppa Italia semi-final return match with Cremonese.
Ivan Provedel has been a cult hero of Lazio‘s superb season but he hit a bad day on Saturday as his team missed out on precious points in their fight for second place. In a rare misjudgement, he watched the only goal of the game bounce through his hands as Ivan Ilic celebrated. The Biancocelesti shot-stopper is still in credit this year but he will have been annoyed at the manner in which he let in the goal.
He’s a fine, fine player when on form and was a key to Milan’s Scudetto last season and their Champions League progress this term but what on earth was Theo Hernandez thinking on his last visit to the hairdressers? Teammate Olivier Giroud could barely contain himself at the sight of the new shocking pink look being sported by his French national team companion. It didn’t stop the Rossoneri strolling to a victory over Lecce thanks to two Rafa Leao strikes but it was surely a crime against clippers.
Giancarlo Rinaldi is the author of a number of books on Italian football. He is also half of the Rigore! Podcast team. You can follow him on Twitter @ginkers.