When Joao Cancelo lifted the ball into Inter’s penalty box for Mario Mandzukic to head home last Friday, it practically put a nail to Luciano Spalletti’s Inter Milan Scudetto dreams at the Allianz Stadium in Turin. Inter Milan are now 14 points behind the league leaders who have won the league title in the last seven seasons in a row. The Serie A looks like a one team league; amongst the top five European leagues, only in Italy have we seen the same champion consecutively for seven years in a row.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli are the only team with an outside chance to the Old Lady and the Partenopei are already eight points behind after 15 round of matches. It has not been smooth sailing for the Bianconeris in the last seven years; the 2011-12 title under Antonio Conte was a close race, it was decided in week 37 with Juventus winning the title with four points over defending champions AC Milan and it was Max Allegri (current Juve coach) who was in charge of the Rossoneris then. AS Roma put up a strong title push in 2013-14 season, winning the their first 10 Serie A matches of the season and finishing with 85 points but couldn’t stop Juventus who won 33 league matches and accumulated 102 points.
Juventus pulled an impressive 25wins in 26 games in the 2015-16 season to see off both Napoli and AS Roma having started the season poorly to win another league title. Last season was another close race, Napoli finished with 91 points, lost thrice and still couldn’t match the Old Lady who finished four points better.
Juventus have dropped only two points after 15 round of games, scoring 32 and conceded only eight. They are followed by Napoli on 35 points, scored 32, conceded 14 and lost twice. The team from Naples have remained as competitive as possible considering the resources at disposal and can be seen to be performing at expected level but there is still another level higher where the Biaconeris are. The Turin giants strengthened further with the arrival of €100m forward – Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid this summer to fortify a very strong squad with embarrassing riches that Gonzalo Higuain – the £75m former Napoli striker acquired in 2016 had to be shipped out as a surplus.
Napoli have been the closest challengers in the last few years particularly under Sarri and now under former Juventus and Milan boss – Carlo Ancelotti who is on a mission to break his former employers hegemony in the Serie A. Third place Inter Milan are already 14 points behind while fourth place AC Milan are a further three points behind their city rivals on the table. AS Roma are not in the frame fora title challenge at the moment with their inconsistent start to the campaign. Eusebio Di Francesco team sit eight on the table and are more than half of Juventus points tally behind.
Max Allegri’s team will definitely be winter champions by the time the season reaches half-way point. His team is amassing 2.87 points per game and would have picked up 54 points after 19 matches if they continue at the same pace. Juventus form and start to the season has been brilliant, their squad is deep and filled with talents to accommodate injuries, poor form and suspensions.
Napoli are under a bit of pressure to keep winning as they keep tabs with the league leaders but couldthis be an effort in futility? Football has written stranger stories and the Italian peninsula would love is one which would reopen the Scudetto race and keep the White and Black stripes on their toes. In the meantime, it feels like the 2018/19 race might end in a similar manner as the previous seven.
Juventus make the short trip across town to Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino to face city rivals Torino FC this weekend while SS Napoli travel to Sardinia to face Roland Maran’s Cagliari. Visit our Sport shop Babaijebu.ng for all Serie A matches this season including the Turin derby this weekend.