This is a Serie A season in which anything can happen, every single matchday. The only real certainty seems to be Inter’s breakaway.
There’s a phrase that has become iconic, spoken years ago by popular Sky Sport Italia commentator Fabio Caressa and now part of the vocabulary of Italian football fans everywhere: soccer is strange. That line perfectly captures the latest rounds of Serie A, where we’ve learned that anything is possible—even the completely unpredictable.
It can happen that Cagliari, thrashed by De Rossi’s Genoa on Monday night, bring the high-flying Juventus of Spalletti to a halt just five days after that collapse.
In fact, the match in Cagliari was itself a manifesto of the wonderful and immeasurable “strangeness” of this sport: the Bianconeri dominated possession almost relentlessly (close to 80% of the ball!) without ever finding the net, while the hosts capitalized on the only real chance they created all game.
It can happen that Conte’s Napoli keep piling up injuries as if they were priceless works of art—the latest additions to an already endless list being Rrahmani and Politano—and understandably struggle against anyone. The most recent match, at home against Sassuolo, was emblematic of the Partenopei’s current moment, with some players literally unable to stand by the final whistle. The first name that comes to mind is McTominay, who has been dragging the team forward in recent weeks alongside the few remaining “survivors.”
It can happen that Bologna lose at home to Fiorentina, slipping out of the European race at the worst possible moment, with just one win (the rescheduled match against bottom-of-the-table Verona) in their last nine Serie A games.
Football is so strange that sometimes a single, well-judged signing is enough to oil and fix mechanisms that looked irreparably broken. Just look at Roma, and how the arrival of Malen has improved everything from midfield forward, boosting fluidity and attacking threat.
In his first appearance in a Roma shirt, immediately handed a starting spot by Gasperini, the Dutchman showed all his best qualities in Turin: dynamism, link-up play, the ability to turn in tight spaces and immediately face goal, and a natural scoring instinct. With a center-forward like that, even Dybala brought out the best of himself, finishing the match with a goal and an assist.
In this beloved football of ours, where anything can happen, Inter seem to have become the only certainty. Chivu’s side—solid and ruthless—keep beating the mid- and lower-table teams, while their rivals continue to drop points along the way. In doing so, Chivu has already laid down a serious claim on the title, launching a surge that could become decisive as early as next matchday.
The upcoming round, with Juventus–Napoli and Roma–Milan, could already mark the definitive break for the Nerazzurri, who will host Pisa on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Cremonese–Verona and Lazio–Como will wrap up Matchday 21 today. Fàbregas’ team, with a win, would move to within two points of Juventus, keeping an exciting European chase very much alive.
L’articolo Soccer is strange proviene da Soccer Made In Italy.
