Suffocating Serie A championship race before G hour

Inter Milan (blue shirt) almost lost everything after a series of 3 losses - Photo: REUTERS

Napoli is currently leading the Serie A standings with 78 points after 36 rounds. Meanwhile, Inter Milan has 77 points. The two matches early in the morning of May 19 have the potential to decide the Serie A championship, when the season has only 2 more rounds to end.

Napoli and its glorious past

Napoli's disastrous 2-2 draw with Genoa has made the Scudetto race more unpredictable than ever. Conte's team now leads Inter Milan by just one point, with two games remaining. The Serie A race is looking extremely fierce, and it is not impossible that both teams will enter a fateful play-off for the Scudetto.

Going back 2 years ago in the 2022-2023 season, Napoli won the absolute championship under the leadership of Luciano Spalletti. They left the team behind, Lazio, with a gap of more than 20 points.

However, the following season at the stadium named after the legendary Maradona was a real disaster. Architect Luciano Spalletti left Napoli right after the championship. Three coaches were appointed in succession, but Napoli sank deeper in Serie A, finishing only in 10th place.

And then the turbulent summer of 2024 happened when Antonio Conte, the veteran coach of Italian football, agreed to lead the blue team. Along with prominent names like Lukaku and McTominay, these two players are the core to help the Naples team return to compete for the Serie A championship.

With key players like Osimhen leaving in the summer transfer window, and Kvaratkhelia joining PSG the following January, no one thought Napoli would compete on equal terms with defending champions Inter Milan for the Serie A title. Even though their coach was Antonio Conte - who had lifted the Scudetto trophy four times.

Napoli revived under Conte's hand - Photo: REUTERS

Inter Milan temporarily put aside Champions League to dream of winning Serie A

For Inter Milan, before April 20, perhaps many Nerazurri expected them to repeat the historic treble like they did under coach Mourinho. However, with 2 consecutive losses to Bologna and AS Roma, interspersed with a humiliating 0-3 loss to rivals AC Milan in the National Cup semi-final, everything was destroyed.

Not only was Inter Milan eliminated from Coppa Italia, they were also surpassed by Napoli by 3 points while Serie A only had 3 rounds left.

The problem for Inter Milan is that they have to compete in three fronts: Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League. Meanwhile, key players like Acerbi, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan are all over 30.

Coach Inzaghi's 3-5-2 formation is also a very special and picky formation. With 3 midfield positions including Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, all of whom are irreplaceable names. For that reason, Inzaghi's army ran out of steam after the victory in the Champions League quarter-finals against Bayern Munich.

A thrilling 4-3 victory in the second leg of the Champions League against Barcelona and a draw with direct rivals Napoli have helped Inter Milan rekindle their chances of winning both competitions. However, Napoli still hold the upper hand, Lukaku and his teammates only need to avoid losing points against Parma and Cagliari to be crowned champions.

As for Inter Milan, perhaps they will temporarily put aside the Champions League final with PSG. At this time, in Serie A, their chance of winning the title is much brighter.

Whether their opponents are Lazio, a club still aspiring to compete for a top 4 spot, or Como, who have run out of motivation to compete, Inzaghi is almost forced to win all 6 points and wait for Napoli to stumble.

In case Napoli and Inter Milan are tied after 38 rounds, according to the new Serie A rules, both teams will enter the final match to compete for the championship.

SOUTH DAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nghet-tho-cuoc-dua-vo-dich-serie-a-truoc-gio-g-20250517220253879.htm