SERIE A
JUVE SET TO CLINCH SERIE A TITTLE WITH MILAN CLASH
Juventus will have a first shot at clinching an eighth successive Serie A title at the weekend although they will need help from the only team to have beaten them in the league this season.
Second-placed Napoli’s shock defeat at Empoli on Wednesday has left the Turin side a massive 18 points clear, meaning it is time to get the calculators out almost two months before the end of the season.
In one of the most lop-sided championships in history, Juventus will clinch the title if they beat AC Milan at home on Saturday and then Napoli lose at home on Sunday to Genoa, who ended Juve’s hopes of an unbeaten league season three weeks ago.
That combination would leave Massimiliano Allegri’s side 21 points clear with seven games each to play and a better head-to-head record over Napoli.
They would also remain on course to break their own Serie A record of 102 points set in 2013-14, the last season before Antonio Conte left and was replaced by current coach Allegri.
Helped by the signing of five times World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus have been utterly dominant this season, winning 26 of their 30 matches, drawing three and losing one.
They have the best attack and defence with 62 goals for and 19 conceded although they have been ruthless rather than sparkling.
Twelve of their wins have been by one-goal margins, nine by two goals and five by three goals and they have only once scored more than three goals in a league game.
There have been a handful of impressive comebacks and dramatic wins but mostly it has been a case of getting the job done as efficiently as possible and leaving enough energy for their main aim, which is winning the Champions League.
Ronaldo will miss the Milan game with a thigh injury and is doubtful for the Champions League quarterfinal first leg away to Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.
However, Allegri said after the 2-0 win to Cagliari on Tuesday that their injury crisis was easing with Mario Mandzukic available and Leonardo Spinazzola, Douglas Costa and Paulo Dybala all close to returning.
The game will be a severe test for Gennaro Gattuso’s AC Milan who are fourth, the lowest of the Champions League slots, but have followed a run of five league wins in a row by taking only one point out of their last three matches.
“The strength that we’ve had for three or four months was missing,” said Gattuso after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at home to lowly Udinese.
“We gave the feeling of fragility. We must remain calm. We know that we’re going through a tough spell and we must get out of it.”
Gattuso said his team were going through one of those phases where the ball feels heavier.
“When you win five matches but then face some difficulties, the ball starts to weigh heavily,” he said. “Things that happen that should be prevented and this is the moment we’re in.”
Croatia captain Luka Modric, who left Real Madrid after 13 years at the LaLiga club, has completed his move to AC Milan on a one-year deal with an option to extend until June 2027, the Serie A side said on Monday.
The midfielder’s arrival was confirmed by newly-appointed Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri earlier this month.
“Very happy to be here to start a new chapter in my career,” said Modric, who turns 40 in September, in an Instagram video shared by Milan.
Milan said Modric will wear the number 14 shirt, which he previously wore during his four years at English side Tottenham Hotspur to honour Dutch great Johan Cruyff.
“It’s an immense honour for them to compare me to (Cruyff)… I wore the no. 14 at Tottenham in honour of him, and because the no. 10 wasn’t available,” Modric had said after winning the Ballon d’Or award in 2018.
Modric, regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, announced in May that he would leave Real after the Club World Cup. He has made 597 appearances for the Spanish club, winning 28 trophies including four LaLiga and six Champions League titles.
He played his last game for Real on Wednesday, coming on as a second-half substitute during a 4-0 loss to Paris St Germain in the Club World Cup semi-finals.
“It’s a bitter end… he’s a legend of world football and of Real Madrid. He’ll be remembered for many more good things than for the 25 minutes he played today,” Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said after the match.
Modric, considered Croatia’s greatest player of all time, has represented the country a record 188 times, scoring 28 goals. He won the Golden Ball at World Cup 2018, where he led Croatia to the final for the first time.
He won the Ballon d’Or in December that year, becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the prestigious annual award since 2007.
Modric’s arrival reinforces a Milan midfield that also features Youssouf Fofana, Yunus Musah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with Samuele Ricci joining from Torino earlier this month.
Milan, who failed to qualify for a European competition after finishing eighth in the Italian top-flight league last season, begin their Serie A campaign against newly-promoted Cremonese on August 23.
-Reuters
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Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own soccer allegiances.
Napoli won their fourth “Scudetto” on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter Milan by one point in a nail-biting end to the season.
The team, captained by Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.
“The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,” the pope said, according to a transcript.
Leo, the first pope to come from the U.S., follows and practices sports, including tennis. People who know him have described him to the media as an AS Roma supporter.
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis gave him a blue Napoli jersey signed by players, bearing the number 10 and his name in Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”.
“You are a number 10, so you are a great striker”, De Laurentiis said. Leo replied with a chuckle and a simple “thank you”.
Coach Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentiis introduced as “deeply Catholic”, knelt down and kissed the pope’s hand, before Leo told him he had seen him many times on TV.
In a short speech, the pontiff stressed the importance of team spirit and collaboration, and sport’s educational value, especially for young people.
Winning comes “at the end of a long journey, where what matters the most is not a one-time exploit or the extraordinary performance of one champion”, he said.
“The championship is won by the team, and when I say ‘team’ I mean the players, the coach with the whole squad, and the club,” he added.
Leo ended his remarks giving his blessings to players and club officials, and offering congratulations, also on behalf of his personal cook.
“She is from Naples and she says: best wishes! She would like to be here too, Mrs Rosa, (she is) a big fan”, the pope said.
-Reuters
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A second-half goal by substitute Ibrahim Sulemana earned Atalanta a 2-1 home win over AS Roma in Serie A on Monday, securing Champions League qualification for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
Sulemana sealed the three points for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area, after Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante cancelled out an early opener by Ademola Lookman.
Atalanta, who fell behind in the title race, sit third in the standings on 71 points and have a seven-point cushion over fourth-placed Juventus and Lazio in fifth with two games left to play.
Roma, who failed to capitalise on Lazio and Juventus dropping points in a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday, are sixth with 63 points.
Atalanta snapped the visitors’ impressive unbeaten league run of 19 games, with Claudio Ranieri’s side previously having been defeated mid-December at Como.
Things started off brightly for Atalanta as Lookman stroked in past Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar to put them in front after nine minutes.
Charles De Ketelaere dribbled past the Roma defence to set the Nigerian up with a precise low cross inside the box and the striker controlled the ball to score inside the right post.
It was Atalanta’s 100th goal this season across all competitions.
De Ketelaere had two good chances to double the advantage but Roma midfielder Cristante levelled for the visitors instead, netting with a flicked header after the half-hour mark.
Things slowed down significantly after a lively first half until Roma were awarded a penalty after an hour of play, following a clash between Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic and Manu Kone.
The referee, however, overturned his decision after consulting VAR.
Sulemana eventually restored the lead for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area — a goal that stood after a VAR check for a potential offside.
Roma host AC Milan next weekend before visiting mid-table Torino in their bid to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
Atalanta travel to Genoa on Sunday before welcoming lowly Parma in their final fixture.
-Reuters
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