If club football can make its voice heard in Europe, the national team is going through a crisis that will be hard for Luciano Spalletti overturn. The fate of the European qualifiers will pass through San Siro on Tuesday, in the capital challenge with theUkraine. Four days later same stage for the Derby di Milan, which illuminates the program of the recovery of the Serie A after three interlocutory rounds, but already full of indications, and it acts as a watershed with the first hard core of the season.
The heat, the influence of the open market, the Arab temptations: from now on no one will be able to look for excuses or alibis anymore, also because there will be no more time to catch their breath. Between one break and another for the national team there will be three weeks of fire in which they will always play: the European cups debut with the first two rounds, interspersed with a midweek round, which could help Juve who will have five commitments instead of seven.
It's a shame that the Milan derby, between the two main candidates for the Scudetto, is coming so soon. A win will launch one of the two, but the other will still stay close behind the pursuers without losing too much. A draw would excite the appetite of the closest big teams, Juve, Atalanta and Napoli, ready to reunite. Fiorentina and Lazio are chasing more distance (but they have shown tangible signs of recovery in Naples) while Roma are already 8 points behind the two leaders and seriously risk a crisis with devastating consequences if they don't start earning three points against Empoli. But the one to catch the eye will be the Milan derby, which hasn't been so competitive for a while.
Inzaghi's Inter perhaps feels the weight of being considered the favorite, due to the completeness of the squad after a sparkling transfer market, with the possibility of fully exploiting the contribution of some important elements still little used, such as Frattesi, Carlos Augusto, Klaassen and Pavard. But Milan is the one that has made the most progress thanks to Pioli's ability to insert new elements of excellent quality, such as Loftus-Cheek, Rejinders and Pulisic in a tested group. Furthermore, the coach also has a range of valuable alternatives that are warming up the engines on the bench.
Giroud's injury could have a weight given the form of the Frenchman, a relentless sniper even in this part of the season. However, the sprain that calls into question his presence seems slight, considering that there is still almost a week to recover. In that case, one of the most intriguing duels would be missing, the one with the top scorer Lautaro who does not miss a beat now that he seems to have formed a very well-matched pair with Marcus Thuram, one of the sons of art of the Italian school who have embellished the Serie A.
The second is Timothy Weah, son of the former Ballon d'Or winner, who has already taken an important role in Juventus. The third could be Juan Manuel Cruz, son of the Argentine Julio (who scored goals in abundance with Bologna and Inter before closing his excellent career at Lazio), just signed on a free transfer by Verona, a surprising fifth in the standings.
The other big match of the fourth round is Juventus-Lazio, a test for two ambitious teams that have different problems and prospects, but have the structure to be protagonists in a season. And Sarri, after having given himself the thrill of a victory in Naples, would like to complete his amarcord at Juve, with whom he won a scudetto that was wrongly underestimated.
It will be interesting to see the consistency of the two outsiders who have surprised the most over the weekend: Baroni's Verona, saved in May with the play-off, lost to Sassuolo after two wins, and now closes the round in Monday's late match against Bologna. D'Aversa's Lecce did even better, seven points in three games and third with Juventus.
The Apulians play at home to Monza, who have had a fluctuating performance so far. Strefezza, the goalscorer Krstovic and teammates (now there is also the free transfer Sansone) will try to prolong the dream to give themselves the further thrill of savouring the scent of the Champions zone for a little longer.
Article published on 10 September 2023 - 19:05
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