The 2023–24 Serie A title race is heating up and is beginning to look like a two-horse race, with Inter Milan and Juventus opening up a seven-point gap at the top of the table.
Juventus reached the summit on Friday night thanks to a 1-0 win over Napoli, and then Inter roared back with a 4-0 victory over Udinese to go two points ahead of I Bianconeri and nine ahead of third-placed AC Milan.
Lautaro Martinez made it 14 goals for the campaign as I Nerazzurri blew Udinese away on Saturday. The Argentine hitman rounded off the rout with a late strike but he could easily have opened the scoring when he fired a shot against the post.
He won the penalty, which broke the deadlock, with Hakan Calhanoglu converting the spot kick. The scorer became the provider minutes later when Calhanoglu teed up Federico Dimarco, and he smashed his shot home to double the lead.
After good work from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marcus Thuram put the result beyond doubt with a close-range finish, and Martinez’ powerful hit finished the job.
Defence is the best form of attack for the Old Lady
My SBOTOP colleague, Jordan said that Napoli’s title defence is slipping away, and he was proved right when I Partenopei fell to a 1-0 loss at the hands of second placed Juventus. But take a look at the stats and you may wonder how the 2023 Scudetto winners lost. With 66 per cent possession, Napoli won the shot count by 13 to 11 but they only managed one shot on target.
At the other end of the pitch, it was 6ft 3in centre-back Federico Gatti who won the points with his second strike in two weeks and his third of the campaign so far. He is the top-scoring defender in Serie A this season, and five of the Old Lady’s last eight goals have been scored by defenders.
23-year-old left-back Andrea Cambiaso has now made two assists and scored one goal in 14 appearances, and he’s becoming a key figure in Turin following his return from Bologna in the summer.
With the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa up front, Bianconeri have some talented strikers, but their defence, which has conceded just nine goals so far this season, is grabbing the headlines.
Atalanta’s gain is Milan’s loss
In other Serie A 2023 news, Luis Muriel scored an ingenious last-gasp winner to give Atalanta a huge win in a five-goal thriller against top-four rivals AC Milan. The victory lifted La Dea to seventh in the table and just a point behind the top four, while I Rossoneri have slipped further away from the top two. Ademola Lookman opened the scoring thanks to a huge deflection, but Milan equalised in first-half stoppage time.
Olivier Giroud, back from suspension, was the man on the spot to head a corner home and level the scores. Lookman scored a tap-in to restore Atalanta’s lead but then Luka Jovic swept home to make it 2-2.
As both teams went for the winner, Milan suffered a blow when Davide Calabria received a second yellow card, and that tipped the balance in favour of the hosts, and the Bergamo crowd erupted when the veteran Muriel back-heeled the winner on 95 minutes.
The latest Serie A 2023 betting odds still make I Rossoneri third favourites to win the Scudetto, but the price has gone out to around 16.00, while La Dea’s top four hopes have been re-ignited.
Lazio lack the killer instinct
After picking up a narrow 1-0 win over ten-man Cagliari last week, Lazio had high hopes of closing the gap o the leading group, but they remain in ninth place after stumbling to a 1-1 draw away to Hellas Verona, who were also reduced to 10 men.
It looked like plain sailing for Lazio when Mattia Zaccagni scored with his cheeky back heel to give them a half-time lead. But despite having over 70 per cent possession and winning the shot counts by 14 to five and five to one on target, Lazio failed to see the win out. And when goalkeeper Ivan Providel struggled to clear a cross, Thomas Henry was on hand to bundle the ball home with 20 minutes remaining. Verona’s Ondrej Duda had been walking a tightrope for some time when he pulled back Taty Castellanos, who was on a quick break, and he had his marching orders, but 15 minutes against 10 men was not enough for Lazio to fashion a winner as Ciro Immobile had a rare off day.
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