[The Epoch Times, January 31, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Rongshi) Last weekend, the 20th round of the Serie A competition took place. “Leader” Naples beat Roma 2:1 at home, beat Inter Milan by 13 points, and led the standings. Juventus, which was deducted 15 points due to fraudulent accounts, was demoralized. They were defeated by the “promoted” Monza 0:2 at home.
Naples sits at home against Roma this round. In the first half, Osmeen stopped the ball with his chest in front of the goal and succeeded in stabbing, opening the scoring for Naples. In the second half, Shalawi, who came off the bench, outflanked the goal and equalized the score for Roma. Before the end of the game, Simeone, who came off the bench, blasted a goal in the penalty area and completed the lore. In the end, Naples beat Rome 2:1 at home.
After this round, Naples has 20 games, 17 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, with 53 points, leading the second place Inter Milan by as many as 13 points. This is the largest point difference between the top two after 20 rounds since Serie A entered the three-point system in the 1994-1995 season. Under the careful training of Spalletti, Naples has now become the best offensive and defensive team in the Apennine Peninsula. Judging from the current state and momentum of the team, Naples has won the third Serie A championship in team history this season after 33 years. Not many people will doubt it.
Currently, in the top five European league standings, Naples has the largest lead at the top. In the Premier League, the leader Arsenal leads the defending champion Manchester City by 5 points; in La Liga, the “leader” Barcelona leads the second place Real Madrid by 5 points; The big Paris Saint-Germain leads with only 3 points. It can be seen how huge Naples’ lead in Serie A is.
“Top four” left three seats and five teams compete
At the beginning of the season, Inter Milan, the favorite for the championship, saw Naples take the lead, and now they can only compete for the Champions League qualification next season. In this round, Inter Milan went to the away game against “Deputy Squad Leader” Cremona, and ended up reversing the opponent 2:1, avoiding losing points on the underdog again. After this round, Inter Milan ranked second with 40 points in 20 games.
The defending champion AC Milan had an upset at home this round and lost to the relegation team Sassuolo 2:5. The ranking fell from second to fifth and fell out of the Champions League. Lazio also encountered resistance at home and was tied 1:1 by the “mid-range” team Fiorentina. The three-game winning streak in all competitions was terminated. Atalanta beat the penultimate Sampdoria 2-0 at home.
After this round, Lazio, Atlanta and AC Milan all have 11 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, accumulating 38 points, but due to different goal difference, they are ranked third to fifth in the standings. This round lost to the top Roma team and ranked sixth with 37 points. Mourinho’s team still has great hopes of “fighting for four”.
Juventus suffered a double kill from “promoted horses”
Due to the investigation of fraudulent accounts, the board of directors of Juventus resigned collectively. The team’s points this season were also deducted by the Italian Football Association by 15 points, leaving only 23 points and falling to the middle of the standings. This round, Juventus sits at the Allianz Stadium to face the “promoted” Monza. The two teams met in the first round of this season. Monza defeated the “Old Lady” 1:0 at home and won the first Serie A victory in team history.
In this game, Caprari scored and was disallowed for offside; after that, Churia opened the scoring for Monza. Subsequently, Dani Motta made another victory to seal the victory for the “promoted”. In the end, Juventus lost 0:2 at home and was “double-killed” by Monza this season. At the same time, they also suffered three league rounds without victory.
Throughout the game, Juventus’ morale was low. Except for Di Maria, many people were out of shape, and four of them failed the score after the game. In the whole game, Juventus’ ball possession rate was not as good as the “promoted horse”, only 45.6%; 22 shots, 8 shots were on target, and no goals were scored. In contrast, Monza was extremely efficient. Although there were only 3 shots, they all hit the goal frame and scored 2 goals.
After this round, Juventus has 23 points, ranking 13th, 15 points away from fourth-placed Atlanta, and 14 points behind sixth-placed Rome. Judging from the current situation of Juventus, the “old lady” wants to enter the European arena next season, and the situation is not optimistic.
Responsible editor: Zheng Huang#