Milan were crowned 2022 Serie A champions last weekend after a fantastic title race which provided some of the biggest and most exciting moments in European football.
While the Premier League reached a thrilling climax, the action in Italy was equally breathtaking as the only other major league to go down to the wire. Eventually I Rossoneri took the title but, at certain points during the season there were other sides in charge of the race, notably Inter Milan and Napoli, while even Juventus threatened to make a late run.
There have been some brilliant matches throughout the campaign but let’s take a look at four of the most significant picked by the SBOTOP team.
Sassuolo 0-3 AC Milan (22nd May)
Milan’s final-day win handed Stefano Pioli’s team their first title in 11 years and the 19th Scudetto in total, and it settled the nerves of Rossoneri fans, that’s for sure. Before a ball was kicked, they needed a point to guarantee finishing above Inter, but as we all know last-day matches are notoriously difficult to predict.
But it was veteran striker Olivier Giroud who calmed everyone down with a well-taken first-half brace, thanks to two brilliant pieces of work from the live-wire Rafael Leao. Twice the Portuguese star reached the byline and cut back for Giroud to slot home at the near post. And Leao got his third assist of the game, pressing high up the pitch and winning the ball for midfielder Franck Kessie to fire in the third. And the 2022 Scudetto was won.
Bologna 2-1 Inter Milan (27th April)
For much of the campaign, the Serie A 2022 betting odds backed Inter to retain the Scudetto they worked so hard to win in 2021. With five games to play I Nerazzurri were in the box seat, and a visit to Bologna presented Simone Inzaghi’s side with a chance to return to the top of the table and apply crucial pressure to their city rivals.
But it all went catastrophically wrong for Inter and their reserve goalkeeper Ionut Radu. Ivan Perisic gave the reigning champions the lead with a well-struck 20-yard drive, but then former Stoke City striker Marco Arnautovic levelled for Bologna. And then disaster struck for Inter when Perisic aimed a defensive throw-in at his keeper but Radu air-kicked it to present Bologna striker Nicola Sansone with an open goal.
Sansone gratefully accepted the gift and Bologna took all three points.
The battle between the two Milan clubs continued until the final day but, with just four games to play, this was a body blow that Inter didn’t really recover from.
AC Milan 0-1 Napoli (19th December)
Of all the Serie A 2022 results, this one was maybe the most pivotal.
Napoli’s victory over Milan, in the last fixture of 2021 at the San Siro, came after both teams had made an electric start to the campaign, winning ten of the first 11 league games, but had subsequently fallen off the pace and behind Inter Milan.
Gli Azzurri came into the game on a three-match winless run and they started the day three points behind Milan, but Elif Elmas headed home from a corner with just five minutes on the clock and that proved to be Napoli’s winner. Kessie thought he’d scored an equaliser on 90 minutes but the goal was chalked off as Giroud, on the floor during the build up, was marginally offside.
Napoli moved second and both teams finished the weekend four points behind Inter Milan.
The defeat looked like a serious blow to I Rossoneri’s title hopes, but the sense of injustice at the disallowed goal turned out to be the kick they needed to spark a brilliant second half of the campaign.
Hellas Verona 2-1 Juventus (30th October)
Defeat to Verona Hellas, their second by this scoreline in three seasons, made it back to back defeats for Max Allegri’s Juventus and left the Old Lady languishing in midtable.
It was a fourth defeat of the season for Juventus and, before the end of October, it pretty much meant the end of their Scudetto challenge, though a revival three months later rekindled a faint hope.
Verona striker Giovanni Simeone scored twice in three minutes to put the hosts in charge, and though Weston McKennie halved the deficit with ten minutes remaining, Juventus left empty-handed. The defeat left I Bianconeri down in ninth place and 13 points behind the leaders. But they recovered in the second half of the season, the signing of Dusan Vlahovic sparking a revival and producing a comfortable fourth position.
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