Napoli are unstoppable in Serie A this season. Gli Azzurri are marching towards their first title, their third in history, after a 33-year break. Luciano Spalletti’s squad impresses with every appearance, stunning their opponents with modern and unbeatable football. Napoli is 15 points ahead of Inter Milan, its main rival. Next round, on Saturday 25 February, the leaders will play at Empoli, who are in a safe and comfortable 12 position in the Serie A standings, but without a win in the last four rounds.
After Sunday night’s narrow 1-0 home win over Verona, AS Roma moved up to third place in Serie A. In a game that lacked show, José Mourinho’s side picked up important points in the fight for a UEFA Champions League place. Another win, 14th of the season, is on the horizon as Roma will play last-placed Cremonese this weekend, the only team in all of Europe’s major leagues without a win this season.
Champions AC Milan seem to have recovered. After three consecutive defeats in the league (0-4 away to Lazio, 2-5 away to Sassuolo and 0-1 home to Inter in the derby), AC Milan have now won three games, all by the same score, 1-0 (away to Torino and home to Monza in Serie A and home to Tottenham in the Champions League).
Milan has a very important game coming up at home to Atalanta, who are playing one of their last chances to keep close to the top four. Atalanta have alternated defeats and wins in the last four rounds, wasting important points. The defeat in the last round at home, 1-2 against Lecce, was further proof that the team coached by Gian Piero Gasperini, at the team’s helm since 2016, is passing through a real crisis.
Fifth-placed Lazio Roma also remain in the chase for a place in next season’s Champions League. After three rounds in which they have collected just two points, Lazio have beaten Salernitatna and are looking optimistically to their home duel with struggling Sampdoria, 19th with just 11 points.
The 24th round of Serie A schedules in its epilogue a new episode of Derby della Mole, the 249th. Begun on 13 January 1907 with a 3-1 win for AC Torino, the Turin derby has been dominated in recent decades by Juventus, who since 9 April 1995 have only lost once, 2-1 on 25 April 2005. It has instead won 26 times, with eight other games ending in ties, most recently 1-1 on 18 February last year at the Alianz Stadium.
