As we attempt to mitigate the dullness of yet another international break – don’t worry, it’s club football from here on out until next Spring – let’s round up all the action from Serie A at the weekend.
Italy’s top-flight has emerged, alongside the Premier League, as Europe’s most intriguing and competitive division this season. Sure, we’re only 12 games in, but 2021/22 has the potential to establish itself long in calcio folklore. The races for the Scudetto, European spots and Serie B are wide open, with the fall of Juventus and Jose Mourinho’s demise unmissable sub-plots for fans.
The Bianconeri, though, did avoid three straight defeats in Serie A on Saturday as Juan Cuadrado struck late on to give Massimiliano Allegri’s side a 1-0 win over Fiorentina. Juve remain eighth in the table, however; 14 points adrift of the league leaders, who both dropped points on Matchday 12.
Here’s a debrief of all of the weekend’s action across Italy.
Honours even in the Derby della Madonnina
Serie A’s blockbuster match-up arrived on Sunday night in the form of the Derby della Madonnina between the two Milan clubs.
Inter, Sunday’s visitors, headed into the contest seven points worse off than AC, who are yet to taste defeat in the top-flight.
The game started in a frenetic fashion and it was former Rossoneri creator Hakan Calhanoglu who gave Inter the lead from the penalty spot. The Turkish international won the spot-kick after being brought down by Franck Kessie having dispossessed the Ivorian in Milan’s box.
Milan’s response was impressive, though, and they were swiftly on level terms after Stefan de Vrij shouldered Sandro Tonali’s free-kick into his own net. A thrilling back and forth first half ensued, with Inter being awarded another penalty after Fodé Ballo-Touré clumsily brought down Matteo Darmian. On this occasion, Ciprian Tătărușanu saved brilliantly from Lautaro Martinez to keep the scores level.
The Nerazzurri seized control after the break and began to dominate. Simone Inzaghi’s side spurned several glorious opportunities to take the lead before the ‘hosts’ enjoyed a blitzkrieg-like resurgence to end the contest. Alexis Saelemaekers hit the post from distance and Ismael Bennacer fired over as Inter were besieged by a rejuvenated Rossoneri to close out the contest.
Inter held on, however, and the spoils were shared in a brilliant derby.
Great weekends for Atalanta & Lazio
With Milan and Inter sharing a point in Sunday night’s derby after Hellas Verona had held Napoli at home, the weekend’s big winners were Atalanta and Lazio.
Atalanta won on the road yet again as they beat bottom of the pile Cagliari 2-1 on Saturday night. Duvan Zapata was on the scoresheet for the fourth consecutive game (in all competitions) to hand La Dea all three points after Joao Pedro had cancelled out Mario Pasalic’s opener.
Lazio, meanwhile, eased to a 3-0 victory over Salernitana on Sunday to move within four points of third-placed Inter. A reintroduced Luis Alberto starred for Maurizio Sarri at the Olimpico and he rounded off the victory by scoring his first goal since Matchday 2.
Oh, Jose
Is Jose Mourinho already unravelling in the Eternal City? Following a dream start that had many lunatics (maybe me, a tiny bit) believing that a Scudetto charge was very much on, AS Roma now sit 13 points off the leaders having won just one of their last five in Serie A.
Mourinho’s men succumbed to a 3-2 defeat away at Venezia at Sunday lunchtime despite leading at the break 2-1 following an impressive first-half from Tammy Abraham, who scored the second following some superb centre forward play inside the area.
The Giallorossi missed their fair share of chances to double their advantage before Bryan Cristante gave away a debatable penalty that allowed Venezia to level things up. A pitiful defensive sequence then culminated in David Okereke bearing down on Rui Patricio’s goal. The Venezia forward finished brilliantly to give his side the lead and heap more misery on Mourinho, who’s beginning to get snappier in press conferences and dismissive in interviews.
Is the traditional Jose cycle reaching a swift conclusion already? He must find solutions after the international break to avoid a hasty dismissal.
Sampdoria & Sassuolo slump
Sassuolo have now sustained back-to-back league defeats following their historic triumph over Juventus on Matchday 10.
This time, they fell to Luca Gotti’s plucky Udinese 3-2. Davide Frattesi scored his third of the season for the Neroverdi, but goals from Gerard Deulofeu, Frattesi (this time at the wrong end) and the in-form Beto handed Udinese all three points.
While Sassuolo have certainly disappointed under Alessio Dionisi this season, their underperformance hasn’t been as stark as Sampdoria’s, who lost again on Matchday 12. Bologna escaped the Luigi Ferraris with a 2-1 win after Marko Arnautovic struck immediately after Morten Thorsby had cancelled out Mattias Svanberg’s opener.
The pressure is mounting on Roberto D’Aversa with Samp languishing in the relegation zone as we head into the November break.
Huge win down the bottom
Elsewhere, Spezia leapfrogged Sampdoria in the table after they edged Torino 1-0 in a game bereft of clear cut chances. Jacopa Sala was the sole scorer as Thiago Motta’s side reached the lofty heights of 16th following Genoa’s 2-2 draw with Empoli on Friday night.
Flavio Bianchi struck late on for the visitors, who recently announced the arrival of former calcio icon Andriy Shevchenko as Davide Ballardini’s successor.