The Euro Preview: Napoli and Juventus on pace for record-breaking 100-point seasons
Napoli and Juventus are both headed toward 100-point seasons in Serie A, while Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski are also looking to break a few records.
Serie A
Napoli and Juventus just can’t lose — but only one of them can be crowned champion at the end of the season. As if this rivalry couldn’t get any more intense.
Both teams have been playing at a blistering pace all season. Napoli head into this weekend having won a club-record nine straight games after last Sunday’s 1-0 victory against Spal. Juventus have also won their last nine matches, with their most recent victory coming in the derby against Torino.
Neither side, it seems, is willing to give up on the chance to win the league title. In the end, it may all come down to the final game of the season. By then, both the Partenopei and the Bianconeri could be at 100 points each. Napoli are currently on 66, a point ahead of Juventus.
Napoli have been the pace-setters all season, averaging 2.64 points-per-game and could reach 100 points by May. Should the wins continue at this rate, Napoli could earn a place in the record-books, topping Antonio Conte’s 2013-14 Juventus side that won the Scudetto with 102 points.
No team in Serie A has ever reached 90 points and not won the league. If Napoli were to win all their games (including away at Juventus on April 22), they would end the season with a record 105 points. Should Juventus win all their games (and defeat Napoli), they would end the season on 104 points.
“My only focus now is on winning the league title. It was extremely heartbreaking to miss out on the World Cup with Italy,” Napoli striker Lorenzo Insignie wrote in piece for The Players’ Tribune earlier this week. “There is nothing I can say that will express my disappointment. It still upsets me. But I have to close that chapter and focus on trying to win Napoli’s first Scudetto in my lifetime. I want to do it for my city, my neighborhood, my friends, my family, my children.”
The march to the title continues this weekend. Juventus host Atalanta on Sunday, while Napoli play at Cagliari the following day.
La Liga
Barcelona are aiming for some records of their own this season. They hold a seven-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid, and have yet to lose a game. If they can avoid defeat in the remaining 24 league games of the season, they will become the first Liga side ever to go undefeated in a 38-game season.
Their star player, Lionel Messi, also has records in his sights. While his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo has had a better 2018 so far in terms of scoring, Messi has 20 goals in La Liga this season. His record for a single season — 43 in 2014-15 — isn’t out of reach with 24 league matches left to play.
That would mean 23 more goals in that span of time. Given Barcelona’s reliance on the Argentine playmaker (while also ignoring the pleas of his country’s FA to rest Messi ahead of the World Cup), it remains very possible. Messi has the ability to single-handedly change the outcome of games and his precision in the penalty area has instilled fear in opposing Liga defenders for years.
Barcelona have dominated opponents for much of this season. While they haven’t always impressed (they would need to win the Champions League this season in order to do so), Messi has been as strong as ever. His equalizer in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 match this past Tuesday against Chelsea was clutch. The goal was Messi’s first in 730 career minutes against the Blues.
Barcelona take on Girona on Saturday at the Camp Nou. Atletico play at fifth-place Sevilla on Sunday.
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Bundesliga
While Bayern Munich are heavy favorites to win the league once again (they currently have a 19-point advantage on second-place Borussia Dortmund), all eyes are on striker Robert Lewandowski. Aside from Messi and Ronaldo, the Poland international has been Europe’s most-prolific scorer since 2011. His 34-goal average each season since then is a big reason why the German giants have so dominated domestically in recent years.
Lewandowski has tallied 30 goals in the league in each of the previous two seasons — a feat last achieved by the legendary German star Gerd Muller in the 1970s — and with 20 goals this season, he’s on course to do it again. Like Barcelona, however, Bayern aren’t content with just dominating Bundesliga opponents. The Germans also have their eye on lifting the Champions League come spring.
Among Lewandowski’s greatest hits is the record for the fastest hat-trick in Bundesliga history in Bayern’s 5-1 destruction of Wolfsburg in September 2015, when he came off the bench to score all five goals in a span of just nine minutes. This past season has also been record-setting for Lewandowski, who has now broken into the top 10 of foreign-born scorers in Bundesliga history. He’s the league’s top scorer this season with 20 goals.
Lewandowski and his Bayern teammates will try to make it look easy once again Saturday when they faces 11th-place Hertha Berlin at home, while Dortmund host Augsburg, who are currently in eighth place, on Monday.