Read in Italian on ilNewyorkese
After 22 matchdays, the Nerazzurri already look clear favorites for the title, with no real challengers in sight.
Serie A seems to have definitively found its dominant force: Chivu’s Inter, who over the past two months have put together a run of 9 wins and 1 draw, establishing themselves firmly at the top of the table.
The league appears to have already reached its decisive breakaway point, both because of Inter’s sheer dominance in Italy (a different story in Europe, which I discussed in my Saturday editorial) and because of the lack of any credible alternative to the Nerazzurri.
For different reasons, none of the chasing pack seem capable of even seriously threatening the leadership of Conte’s side.
Milan, held at the Olimpico by Gasperini’s Roma, are the closest team to Inter, sitting second just five points back, but Allegri’s words in his press conference sounded like a (more or less strategic) withdrawal from the Scudetto race: Milan’s objective is Champions League qualification, not winning the title.
Inter’s great rival at the start of the season, reigning champions Napoli, have been losing key pieces for months due to an unrelenting injury crisis and have effectively disavowed their summer transfer strategy (see the January departures of Lucca and Lang), ending up dragged back into the chasing pack after the heavy defeat at the Stadium.
Roma are a beautiful reality and Gasperini would like to take the next step immediately with new signings, but as of now they trail the leaders by nine points and, above all, have yet to win a single head-to-head clash: the feeling is that the Giallorossi are not yet ready for the big leap, and even if they were to become so before the transfer window closes, the points to make up are already, mathematically, too many.
The same argument about points to recover applies even more so to Juventus, who sit ten points behind Inter in the standings: in terms of quality, the coach’s impact (Spalletti) on the team, and the club’s pedigree, the Bianconeri would be the perfect competitor, but the points dropped early in the season weigh like a millstone, and it is truly unthinkable to claw them all back unless Chivu’s Inter suffer a dramatic collapse.
For all these reasons, the Scudetto race already seems to be reaching its final credits and may have effectively turned into a one-team procession.
What remains wide open—wide open indeed—is the battle for Champions League spots: Allegri said it will be a four-way race (Milan, Roma, Napoli and Juventus) for the three remaining places, but perhaps he forgot (or underestimated) Fabregas’ Como, who play outstanding football and are still mathematically in the hunt for Europe’s top competition…
L’articolo Inter is already in the lead proviene da Soccer Made In Italy.
