Juventus dropped points in Bergamo on Friday night, but still managed to extend their lead at the top of Serie A to nine points.
The Old Lady now has one hand firmly on the Scudetto, while Roma have Napoli breathing down their necks.
At the other end of the table, Crotone’s revival continues to impress, and they’ve given themselves a fighting chance with four games remaining.
Here’s what we learned from Week 34.
Juventus dropped points in Bergamo on Friday night, but still managed to extend their lead at the top of Serie A to nine points.
The Old Lady now has one hand firmly on the Scudetto, while Roma have Napoli breathing down their necks.
At the other end of the table, Crotone’s revival continues to impress, and they’ve given themselves a fighting chance with four games remaining.
Here’s what we learned from Week 34.
Roma continue to struggle under pressure
The Giallorossi have been accused of lacking the bottle for crucial fixtures, and it’s an accusation which will be levelled at them again after this weekend.
Juventus had drawn with Atalanta on Friday night, meaning the Giallorossi had the chance to keep their title hopes alive and reduce the gap to six points when they took on Lazio in the Derby della Capitale.
However, Luciano Spalletti’s men fell to a 3-1 defeat, with Antonio Rudiger seeing red in stoppage time.
After defeat in the Champions League play-off with Porto, and more recently in the Europa League and Coppa Italia, the Lupi have questions to answer about their big-game mentality.
Juventus show chinks in their armour
Roma’s loss saw Juventus actually extend their lead at the top, but the 2-2 draw with Atalanta will serve as a stark warning ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Monaco.
The Bianconeri couldn’t cope with Atalanta’s quick pressing game in the first half, and deservedly trailed at the break.
After a second half rally which seemed to have them on their way to three points, a lapse in concentration at the back allowed to Orobici to equalise.
As Coach Max Allegri noted after the match, Monaco play a similar style and Juve will need to put in a far better performance at the Stade Louis II this midweek.
Genoa are in a relegation battle
It looked certain that one of Crotone or Empoli would be heading to Serie B, but Genoa have been sucked into a relegation dogfight.
The Grifone’s loss to Chievo means they’re now just five points above the drop zone, with one point from their last seven games.
Ivan Juric left the post-match Press conference in tears, while his side’s next four games see them take on Inter, Palermo, Torino and Roma.
Given Crotone’s resurgence, there will be some nervous fans at the Marassi during the run-in.
The exits of Leonardo Pavoletti, Tomas Rincon and Lucas Ocampos in January now looks like a monumental blunder.
Pioli struggles to change games
Inter’s recent woeful run of form continued with a home defeat to Napoli, and the Europa League situation would be even worse were it not for Milan’s recent struggles.
Stefano Pioli has been largely let off the hook given the way he turned around Frank de Boer’s struggling outfit, but the Coach is showing some worrying deficiencies.
What has been notable in this run is that the former Lazio boss is almost never able to change a game with substitutions, save for arguably making his side worse.
The continued omission of Gabigol is baffling, the €30m Brazilian can’t even get off the bench these days.
Milan are crawling over the line
Inter’s collapse has somewhat masked problems in the red-and-black half of Milan, but Vincenzo Montella has issues to resolve too.
In their previous five games, the Rossoneri have faced the four bottom sides and managed just five points, with the previous two results being a loss at home to Empoli and a draw in Crotone.
The Diavolo may just manage a Europa League place, but if they do it will be down to the lack of a credible challenger, rather than their own form.