The penultimate round of matches in Serie A brought frustrating draws for the top two teams, safety for Cagliari, untrammeled woe for AC Milan, and a historic win for Bologna. Here’s how it all happened.
Serie A winners from Matchday 37:
Juventus
Udinese gave them very little to worry about as Juve coasted to a 2-0 victory at the Stadio delle Alpi. Their win now has Juve in fourth just ahead of the two Roman teams.
Roberto D’Aversa
The Empoli coach’s halftime double substitution, with Lorenzo Colombo and Saba Gogliachidze going in for Liam Henderson and Luca Marianucci, turned the game against Monza. The relegated home team was getting forward with success during the first half, but the subs made all the difference in the second half, as Empoli scored three, the first one by Colombo. Their last match is at home against Hellas Verona, and if they can just outdo Lecce’s result at Lazio, the Blues will be safe.
Ylber Ramadani
Just before halftime, the Lecce defensive midfielder replaced Balthazar Pierret due to the latter’s injury. Just after halftime, he collected Nikola Krstović’s pass outside the penalty box and bent his shot inside the near post for the game’s only goal. Lecce’s task for the last game is now straightforward, if not simple: If they can beat a Lazio team that’s chasing Champions League qualification, they stay up.
Cagliari
Let the rest of the league provide the drama. Let the fans of other teams like Parma and Hellas Verona bite their nails. The Sardinians’ one-sided win at home over Venezia assured them of safety with a game to spare.
Serie A losers from Matchday 37:
Inter Milan
After Pedro’s goal evened up the game at 1-1, Inter immediately went back up in the 80th minute against Lazio when Denzel Dumfries headed in Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s free kick, but then Inter defender Yann Bisseck was assessed a penalty after sticking out a chicken wing at Taty Castellanos’ shot. Pedro converted the resulting spot kick, and the draw would have doomed Inter to second place if not for …
Napoli
Their failure to score at Parma left them with a 1-point lead atop Serie A. Parma goalkeeper Zion Suzuki made some fantastic saves, but mostly it was the defense in front of him that limited the visitors’ opportunities. Coming after Inter’s draw, the game was a blown chance to put the title race away. On top of that, Antonio Conte was red-carded for a sideline altercation with opposing Coach Cristian Chivu, so Napoli will need to beat Cagliari on the final day without him.
Łukasz Skorupski
Bologna’s goalkeeper gave up two rebound chances that led directly to goals in Fiorentina’s 3-2 win. On the other hand, Bologna did win the Coppa Italia in the middle of the week, hoisting the cup for the first time since Richard Nixon was dealing with Watergate. Team Lunch Meat will play in the Europa League next season because of that.
Santiago Giménez
The Mexican striker has been at the center of many good things for AC Milan, but why oh why did he elbow Gianluca Mancini in the chest? The AS Roma captain went down like he was playing the drag-me-to-hell scene in Don Giovanni, but there was no need for Giménez to give him the elbow in the first place. The red card that he drew led to Roma’s 3-1 win that eliminated any hope of Milan returning to Europe.
Venezia
Ooh, boy. Not only do they need to beat Juventus in their last match, they’ll also need both Lecce and Empoli to drop points in their season finales. The Winged Lions may be heading back to Serie B.