The thousand and one emotions of our championship summarized for you in little pills of very little wisdom.
Conte lost to Atalanta and said “they are ahead”. It passed as a judgment of merit, a kindness, a nice gesture of gratitude towards his opponents. It’s okay, it’s really like that. But, be careful, it’s not “just” like that. That Atalanta is very strong is a banal fact, that Napoli could and should have done more is equally true. And not only in the performances of the individuals, but also in terms of tactical choices. Throughout his career Conte has almost always been able to beat his colleague Gasperini precisely in terms of approach, this time he was outclassed. And so, yes: Atalanta had a great game, but Napoli is just as strong and the 0-3 has deeper reasons than a simple “they are ahead”.
Here, Atalanta. The recurring question is “Are the Bergamo players worthy of the Scudetto?”. And it doesn’t mean “they will win the championship” but “can they fight until the end to try to make history?”. The answer here is absolutely yes and this for at least two reasons. 1) Competition remains “imperfect”, there is no steamroller squad, they all have more or less obvious limitations. 2) It seems incredible but the Goddess has never been so complete in terms of “construction” and has rotations like no other. Keeping Retegui (current top scorer) out in the match against Napoli is a very clear signal. And Brescianini, Samardzic, Zaniolo, Bellanova still have to complete the insertion, plus Scalvini must return… La Dea has everything, now even the experience.
Everyone makes mistakes, but in football it’s common. But getting it all wrong is frankly rare. The ownership of Roma is succeeding in a rare, very rare undertaking, which started with the dismissal of a coach/flagship after only 4 days (and without a real reason), continued with the choice of a coach who was never truly protected and in some way never accepted by the locker room, completed by the total detachment of the owners, concluded with this phase of useless and counterproductive waiting, a sort of “let’s go on a little further and see” which is only the prolongation of an agony visible to all. In a normal world, whoever is in charge would have already recognized his mistake and would have gone back to De Rossi with his ears closed (a coach still under contract), here instead we choose to see what happens while waiting to bet on yet another foreign coach with no experience in A and, therefore, faulty at the origin. An absolute masterpiece of senseless choices.
Inzaghi will aim for a decent turnover today. And one says: “But how, in the Champions League? Against Arsenal? But he’s crazy.” That’s right. The reason is simple and can be easily summarized: 1) The new Champions League allows you to make calculations, especially if you have scored 7 points in the first 3 games (with 10 sixes in the playoffs) and even more if you have the most important match on Sunday of this beginning of the season. These are necessary calculations that only very few squadrons can afford to ignore. This doesn’t mean that the Nerazzurri will take to the field this evening to scratch their bellies, but it is certain that some players who are not 100% physically fit will not be risked from the start, under penalty of losing them ahead of the match – the fundamental one – on Sunday .
Retegui was not booked. In Napoli-Atalanta he took off his shirt, waved it, did the whole show, but the referee forgot. A small oversight in an overall very quiet weekend at refereeing level (big sarcasm here). The problem is not just “the oversight”, but rather the fact that this extra 0.5 has screwed up the calculations in hundreds of fantasy football games, resulting in unspeakable incidents. And if you think this is an exaggeration, well, you obviously don’t play fantasy football.
And then Juventus. After some performances below expectations, Juventus found beauty again on the Champions League evening, a quality which however was not enough to earn them the three points. Indeed, the Bianconeri went behind due to a goal from the usual David, favored by Zhegrova who gave Cabal a migraine for the entire evening, who was replaced in the 68th minute after being booked. Juventus reacted but Koopmeiners saw two goals disallowed. Vlahovic equalized on a penalty earned by Conceicao. The final minutes, however, are anything but a siege. Both Juventus and Lille gave up on attacking and attacking each other, preferring to share a point each, now the table sees them tied at 7. Not bad.
And finally the Devil. Ancelotti walking on the sidelines, gloomy, closed in his thoughts with before his eyes a Real Madrid that just can’t find the right measures against a Milan that restarts how and when it wants. A few meters away, Fonseca is enjoying his team as perhaps he had only dreamed of being able to do. The Rossoneri advance like splinters, with Theo and Leao putting aside all disagreements on the gala evening and finally running with and for the team. If at Milanello they could have chosen the zero evening,
to erase any misunderstanding and start again with enthusiasm, they would certainly have marked last night’s date in red. Against the most prestigious team in history, in the most beautiful stadium in the world, facing the strongest players on the planet, Milan asserted their law and Fonseca, until yesterday on the gridiron, emerged strengthened for having carried forward the strength of his ideas. The performance of a finally eager Leao was exciting, his personal action was amazing, ending with the assist to make it 3-1 for Reijnders. These are the answers that Fonseca asked for from the Portuguese, not the social ones nor the interviews given to the national team. And so the Bernabeu match can represent a new beginning for everyone, certainly for Leao and for Fonseca.