Juventus clinched the Scudetto last weekend after Inter Milan trounced their derby rivals to leave AC Milan licking their wounds until the beginning of the 2012/2013 season.
It was just like the old days in the San Siro. We had flares, smoke-bombs, magnificent murals, contentious decisions, utterly wrong decisions and a six-goal thriller. Unfortunately for Massimiliano Allegri and his Rossoneri side, their season-long battle to overcome injuries and phantom goals ended in their own ground against their fierce city-rivals, Internazionale.
A stunning strike by Maicon three minutes from time sealed a 4-2 victory for the Nerazzurri and keeps Inter’s slim hopes of Champions League football next season alive as well as giving their young interim coach, Andrea Stramaccioni, every chance of keeping his position on a more permanent basis.
Meanwhile at the Nereo Rocco in Trieste, Antonio Conte’s Juventus side took on Cagliari looking to calm the nerves generated by Gigi Buffon’s late error against Lecce in their previous game which ultimately cost them victory that night.
An early goal by Mirko Vucinic – only his 8th of the season – achieved that aim and an own-goal by Michele Canini 15 minutes from time secured a 2-0 win against a Cagliari side that failed to register any shots on target.
The Bianconeri netminder Gigi Buffon spoke of his joy after the title win was confirmed and looked forward to giving club captain Del Piero a fitting send-off in the Coppa Italia final in Rome in two weeks time: “I had been waiting for this moment for six years,” he said.
“I’m glad I’ve been rewarded for choices I made in the past. When I made those choices I knew I was right, even though on certain occasions I thought I had made a bad decision. However I was proved right.
“Now we’re looking forward to the cup final to help Del Piero finish triumphantly. I’m not thinking about the Champions League, just about taking one step at a time. That’s the only way we can plan great things without falling short of the target.”
For senior players like Del Piero and Buffon and even younger ones such as Claudio Marchisio, this title win will feel like a redemption of sorts. The club was stripped of the 2005 and 2006 titles won under Fabio Capello after Juventus became one of the five clubs linked to a Serie A match fixing scandal in May 2006, the result of which saw the club relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history.
Many key players left at that time including Lilian Thuram, Zlatan Ibrahimovi? and Italy’s World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, who said of his departure, along with manager Capello, to Real Madrid: “Even if I know this may be hard to believe, I would have stayed at Juventus had they remained in Serie A – even with a 30-point deduction.”
However, other big name players such as Buffon, Del Piero and Pavel Nedv?d remained to help the club return to Serie A while younger players, including Claudio Marchisio, were integrated into the first team from the Primavera side. The Bianconeri bounced straight back up as Serie B winners with Del Piero claiming the top scorer award with 21 goals.
Including those two stripped titles, Juventus would now have 30 league titles and Juve President Andrea Agnelli has already hinted that they will add a 3rd gold star (the Stella d’Oro al Merito Sportivo with each star representing 10 league titles) to their match-shirt for the 2012/13 season regardless of what the official records state.
“We have won 30 league titles on the pitch. They said that the outcome of the 2004/05 season hadn’t been altered in Naples and that the following one hadn’t been investigated. The third star? The fans will have a pleasant surprise when the see next season’s shirts.”
Meanwhile, one of those players who left that relegated Juventus side, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, saw his run of eight consecutive league wins come to an end and his frustration was evident: “I’m not used to finishing empty-handed. This is the first time it’s happened to me.
“Is it better to have a great season as an individual player (Ibra has 28 goals in 31 Serie A games this season and is set to be the first player to be top scorer with two different Serie A sides) or reach a target together with the team? I don’t know. I think it’s better to win along with the team. I’m disappointed. It’s been an utter disaster.
“If all of the team had been available we would have had a better chance of winning the Scudetto. Juve had a terrific season and my congratulations go to the club, but we sort of handed them the title, because we had it in our grasp.
“All this season’s injuries and then other players who limped off during the derby, didn’t do us any good. There’s something wrong and when something is wrong, changes need to be made, and quickly.”
While Milan can certainly look to injuries for some of their troubles this season, other problems were self-inflicted and none more so than the release on a free transfer of Andrea Pirlo who has been outstanding for Juventus this season and leads the Serie A ‘assists’ table.
“Alongside Xavi, Pirlo is the best midfielder in the world,” said Simone Pepe after the 2-0 win against Cagliari. “He’s completely changed our team; he actually transformed a group of several good players into a top side.”
The battle for third goes down to the wire
Meanwhile the battle for third will go down to the wire with Udinese now in pole position following their 2-0 defeat of relegation-threatened Genoa while Napoli let their own opportunity slip in a 2-0 loss to Bologna. Antonio di Natale opened the scoring in the Stadio Friuli bringing his tally to 22 for the season and Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin deserves huge credit for his team’s achievements this season as they competed against the new riches of Roma, the Three Tenors of Napoli and the vast experience of Inter.
Having qualified for the Champions League last season, Guidolin lost key players such as Alexis Sánchez to Barcelona, Gökhan Inler to Napoli and Cristián Zapata to Villarreal and has still managed to steer his side into the CL places (with Serie A having one less place this season).
Udinese visit Vincenzo Montella’s Catania in their final game of the season while Lazio, two points behind Udinese, take on Inter in the Olimpico ,with the Nerazzurri aware that a win for them and a loss for Udinese could see them leapfrog both Udinese and Lazio for the final CL spot.
Napoli, like Inter, also lie three points off Udinese as they take on Siena in the Stadio San Paolo and will seek to take advantage of any slip-ups by the sides above.
While Udinese are the only side of the four with their CL destiny in their own hands, Montella’s Catania side will not be an easy opponent as evidenced by their 2-2 performance against Montella’s former side Roma in the Olimpico last weekend. That result marked the end of Roma’s European qualification aspirations for this season but there was some personal joy at least for Francesco Totti as he celebrated his 500th Serie A appearance with two goals.
However, a saved penalty and a rebound blazed over the bar cost Totti his hat-trick and somehow seemed to sum up a season of very mixed fortunes for the Totti’s beloved Giallorossi.
But the weekend belonged to Antonio Conte’s Juventus side so we’ll leave him with the final words: “Winning the league is something beautiful,” Conte told Sky Sports Italia. “It’s amazing. Amazing. A very special year has become extraordinary. Congratulations to all the players and the fans.
“We are champions of Italy, and have gone 37 games without defeat. Now we want to go the whole season unbeaten. It would be an historic feat.”
No side has gone unbeaten in a 38-game season in Serie A and with a Coppa Italia final still to come, there is still more to play for
Results
Lecce 0-1 Fiorentina, AS Roma 2-2 Catania, Siena 0-2 Parma, Atalanta 0-2 Lazio, Bologna 2-0 Napoli, Novara 3-0 Cesena, Palermo 4-4, Chievo Verona, Udinese 2-0 Genoa, Cagliari 0-2 Juventus, Inter 4-2 AC Milan
Fixtures
Sunday, May 13
AC Milan v Novara
Juventus v Atalanta
Cesena v AS Roma
Parma v Bologna
Catania v Udinese
Chievo Verona v Lecce
Fiorentina v Cagliari
Genoa v Palermo
Lazio v Inter
Napoli v Siena
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