⚽️🇮🇹 Napoli keep the pressure on Inter...
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're looking at the scudetto race, we're admiring Igor Tudor's unbeaten streak, and much more!
🍿 Lukaku and McTominay star as Napoli’s good form continues
The top of the table remains very tight after Napoli’s big 3-0 win over Empoli on Monday, putting Antonio Conte’s side just three points behind leaders Inter with six games remaining.
💪 Romelu Lukaku was in peak form on Monday, scoring and assisting both of Scott McTominay’s goals. The Belgian is into double digits for assists (10), making him the league leader.
😲 Only Lukaku and Liverpool’s Mo Salah are in double figures for goals and assists across Europe’s top-five leagues
🏴 It’s also proving to be an annus mirabilis for McTominay, who now has seven goals this campaign to equal his personal season record.
🗣️ The Scot spoke with Serie A’s YouTube channel recently about his incredible debut Serie A season and love for Naples:
📃 Ahead of the Empoli win, Napoli fans handed out motivational signs: “The last 7 battles. Us in the stands, them on the pitch. Let’s fight until it’s over.”
Up next for Napoli 👉 Conte’s side travel to Monza on Saturday (12pm, CBS Sports). Napoli has won its last two meetings with Serie A’s bottom side.
🙌 Inter advance to Champions League semifinals
After an incredible victory in Bavaria last week, Inter brought Bayern Munich back to San Siro on Wednesday and completed the job with a 4-3 aggregate victory over the German giants.
⚽️ Lautaro Martínez and Benjamin Pavard scored in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw, earning the Nerazzurri its second appearance in the Champions League final four in the past three seasons.
⏭️ Simone Inzaghi’s side will face Spanish league leaders Barcelona in the semifinals, the first leg of which will be played in two weeks’ time.
🙌 Per Opta Paolo, only one other Inter manager has reached the final four of the Champions League/European Cup in two different seasons. That was Helenio Herrera in the 1960s, who coached the iconic all-conquering team known as Grande Inter.
😮 Inter leads Serie A and is still alive in the Coppa Italia, meaning a treble is still on the cards. The Nerazzurri is the only Italian team to have achieved this feat, having done so under Jose Mourinho in 2009-10.
Up next for Inter 👉 Inzaghi’s side visit fifth-place Bologna on Sunday (12pm ET, CBS Sports and FOX Deportes). Their most recent meeting, at San Siro, ended in a 2-2 draw.
🦓 Igor Tudor’s undefeated start at Juventus continues
With a 2-1 win over Lecce on Saturday, Juventus has secured seven points from a possible nine under new coach Igor Tudor.
👏 The Lecce win comes after a 1-0 victory against Genoa in Tudor’s debut, then a 1-1 tie with Roma.
💪 Dušan Vlahović bagged two assists against Lecce, equaling his personal season-best total of four.
👍 Kenan Yıldız’s winner, his sixth Serie A goal of the season, was an incredible team effort.
🗣️ Former Juve coach Fabio Capello wrote about the revitalized team in the Gazzetta dello Sport: “It’s like Tudor has rung the school bell: Books under desks and everyone in the playground having fun.”
Up next for Juventus 👉 Tudor will be looking to increase his unbeaten run on Monday when they host Parma (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports and FOX Deportes).
🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic contributes in big Milan win
The Rossoneri earned an emphatic win in the most recent gameweek when they put four unanswered goals past Udinese. USMNT star Christian Pulisic notched his 19th Serie A goal involvement of the season when he assisted Strahinja Pavlovic.
👏 Pulisic now boasts nine goals and 10 assists on the Serie A season, with an additional five goal involvements in the Champions League and two goals in the Supercoppa Italiana.
🔥 After earning praise from Ronaldinho last week, Rafael Leão opened the scoring to continue his excellent recent form. The Portuguese forward and Pulsic are two of three players with at least seven goals and seven assists this season. The other? The aforementioned Romelu Lukaku.
🇳🇱 Tijjani Reijnders scored the fourth goal of the game, marking his 10th for the season. He’s the first Dutchman for Milan in double figures since the legendary Marco van Basten.
Up next for Milan 👉 Sérgio Conceição’s side will seek to edge back into European contention when they host high-flying Atalanta on Easter Sunday (2.45pm ET, CBS Sports, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM FC).
😰 Empoli and Venezia’s survival showdown
On Easter Sunday, 18th-place Empoli hosts 19th-place Venezia, in a game that could be hugely consequential in the Serie A relegation battle (9am ET, CBS Sports).
👉 Despite eliminating Juventus from the Coppa Italia to reach the semifinals, Empoli is winless in league play in over four months.
💪 Venezia earned a much-needed victory over bottom-place Monza last weekend, making them the only team in the bottom five with a win in its last five games.
🟥 The Venetians, however, will be without their winter singing, Daniel Fila, who was sent off after scoring the vital winner against Monza.
👀 Both Empoli and Venezia sit on 24 points. A win for either could see them leapfrog Lecce (who host Como at 9am ET on Saturday morning) to escape the relegation zone with five games remaining.
😬 It may stay tight at the bottom: Empoli and Venezia have tied their last two meetings.
👏 While a number of teams battle to beat the drop this weekend, we already know the identity of one of the sides who will be stepping up next season…
🆙 Sassuolo promoted back to Serie A
After dropping to Serie B last season, Sassuolo has returned to the top flight at the first time of asking, with five matches remaining in their season.
👉 Sassuolo is coached by Fabio Grosso, who played as a defender for Inter and Juventus. You may also remember him scoring the winning penalty in Italy’s 2006 World Cup triumph.
😲 This marks Sassuolo’s second-ever promotion to Serie A, after their 2012/13 triumph.
🎇 There were incredible scenes in Sassuolo’s main town square, the Piazza Garibaldi after Spezia’s draw at Mantova guaranteed their promotion.
😂 Since Sassuolo were promoted by virtue of other results, they put up an amusing Simpsons social post to show they won promotion “from the sofa”. Keeping with the animation theme, they also posted an ‘Up’ parody for good measure.
💬 Calcio Conversations
Back in December, we told you all about panettone, and this week we’re talking about coaches who will get to mangiare la colomba.
🤔 What does mangiare la colomba mean? La colomba is a traditional Easter cake in Italy, which translates to ‘dove’ in English (so no prizes for guessing its shape). Much like the panettone chat ahead of Christmas, there tends to be chat of coaches not getting to ‘eat their colomba’ at Easter, suggesting they may be sacked before the celebrations get underway.
👀 Who won’t eat their colomba this year? An example of a coach this season who ate his panettone but didn’t quite make it to the colomba would be Fabio Pecchia, who was still in the Parma job at Christmas but has since been replaced by Cristian Chivu.
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⭐️ The stars come out for Como once again
Some of the biggest names from the world of entertainment have taken in a match at Como’s Stadio Comunale G. Sinigaglia this season - and a galaxy of stars witnessed their 1-0 win over Torino on Sunday.
🎥 Hollywood actors Jeff Goldblum, Terry Crews, and Mark Strong were joined by musician AJ Tracey and former Juventus star Thierry Henry in the stands.
🙌 They were all happy to see a goal and three points for the hosts!
👍 The victory put Como 12 points above safety, which will go a long way to help them sustain top-flight soccer for a second consecutive season.
🥪 Social Post of the Week: Lecce fans choose self-catering option at Juventus away game
Lecce is nearly 700 miles from Turin, so the Salentini fans who traveled north to Turin for their aforementioned match with Juventus on Saturday took the initiative to pack their own sandwiches.
🍞 Clearly, home-made panini and calcio are an elite combo!
📺 This weekend on CBS Sports, Paramount+, FOX Deportes, and SiriusXM
Saturday, April 19th
Lecce v Como (9am ET)
Monza v Napoli (12pm ET)
Roma v Verona (2.45pm ET)
Sunday, April 20th
Empoli v Venezia (9am ET)
Bologna v Inter (12pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
Milan v Atalanta (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes and SiriusXM FC)
Monday, April 21st
Torino v Udinese (6.30am ET)
Cagliari v Fiorentina (9am ET)
Genoa v Lazio (12pm ET)
Parma v Juventus (2.45pm ET, also on FOX Deportes)
🇨🇦 Watch ALL Serie A games live on Fubo and select games with Italian-language commentary on TLN 🇨🇦
🇺🇸 Watch select games with Spanish-language commentary on FOX Deportes and English-language commentary on SiriusXM 🇺🇸
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