Easter Monday with Inter. Milan rises again, Juve sinks

Rightly crushed by the overwhelming prowess of Jannik Sinner, who by beating the Bulgarian Dimitrov in Miami (6-3 6-1) took the title and the sumptuous seat of number two in the world, the football championship, stopped on Easter Sunday, he looks around with the slightly dazed look of a hardened tourist who has lost his reservation. Where am I? Why am I here? Should I return or do I also take the Easter Monday trip?
In fact, a brief review is needed because chaos reigns supreme and there are many open questions. To start with last Saturday, after the national break, there was a first round of jousting where, apart from league leaders Inter (on the pitch tonight at San Siro with Empoli), almost all the big teams played. We call them big so to speak because now, in the Champions League area, there is a big crowd with Juve (also defeated at the Olimpico by Lazio) who are losing pieces along the way, risking transforming a gray season into a kind of indefensible comedy not to be replicated .
Pioli rises again, Allegri collapses
But let’s proceed in order. Those who are doing well, incredibly well after all the boos and sneers that Pioli has received in recent months, are Milan. An aggressive and entertaining AC Milan who also won in Florence (1-2) secured their second place, leaving the tormented creature of Allegri at minus 6 and Roma, in fifth place, who play tonight in Lecce, were even at minus 14. In fourth place, still breathing down Juve’s neck, there is also the Bologna of miracles, now five points behind the Bianconeri. If today the rossoblu beat Salernitana (not a difficult feat), they will have the Juventus ship in their sights, increasingly similar to a sailing ship dismasted in the storm.
Allegri rants: we haven’t suddenly become bastards, he thunders, foaming with anger and calling for a reaction from his people who just don’t hear us. It’s true that Lazio fooled them with a hit from Marusic in injury time, but what did the Bianconeri do first? Little or nothing. If you only think about not taking them, says the wise man, sooner or later they will actually ring them for you. Seven points in the last nine matchdays is a relegation average. And without the excuse of distraction from the cups. Allegri once made a joke by saying that he inflicted the “short face” on his opponents. Now it is his opponents who pay him back with the same coin. He who wounds with a short snout, perishes with a short snout. The impression is precisely this: that no one follows Allegri anymore and that all his tricks to keep the morale of the troops high are over. Today he doesn’t risk the bench, but the atmosphere is terrible. All we were missing was the stinging laughter of Nonge and Rabiot immediately after the end of the match against Lazio. Blessed are they: happy people, heaven helps them.
Leao and Maignan: class makes the difference.
Milan, on the other hand, is going full speed. And Pioli, as football goes, is once again pampered by the club. It wasn’t easy to overcome Fiorentina, especially on the farewell evening for Viola manager Joe Barone. And instead, despite the absence of Teo Hernandez, and the rest period given to Pulisc, the Rossoneri won easily, albeit with a few too many errors in attack. Fueled by a super Leao (a goal and an assist to Loftus-Cheek) and with goalkeeper Maignan back to his best levels, the Devil recorded their sixth consecutive victory. Someone is already starting to say: if he had woken up earlier, Inter wouldn’t be comfortably on their way to their second star by now… Talk that is worth zero, of course. Milan must be happy to have found themselves again and perhaps continue in style in the Europa League too. Fiorentina, taking advantage of some distractions from the Rossoneri, could have even equalised. It was there. But Milan, unlike a few months ago, have been able to grit their teeth. Once Leao’s show ended, Maignan’s began. Two champions. And class, which is not water, makes the difference.
Goodbye Napoli: 30 points less
There is no resurrection for Napoli, perhaps too burdened by controversies due to the very unedifying Acerbi-Juan Jesus controversy. The Italian team, who knelt down before kick-off in Black Lives Matter style, never entered the match against Atalanta. A team of ghosts, without energy and without play, effortlessly overwhelmed by the Bergamo players who with a good trio relaunched themselves for the Champions League. For Napoli, Europe is increasingly distant. Thirty points less than in the Scudetto championship: a disturbing fact. All the good things that Calzona had previously brought evaporated in 45 minutes dominated by the guests who were happy not to miss the opportunity to hit their direct rival for Europe. Booed mercilessly by the fans, everything gets complicated for the Neapolitans. After the failures of Garcia and Mazzarri, there is no other alternative. The ways of the Lord, as Troisi would say, are finished. Unless president De Laurentiis goes directly to the bench. So he sings it and plays it as he has been doing for some time.
Racism: is it there or not?

What is happening after Francesco Acerbi’s acquittal is very strange and symptomatic. Acquitted by sports justice because there is no objective evidence that he called Juan Jesus a “nigger” or in any case offended him with a racist epithet, almost everyone however takes it for granted that something serious was truly said despite there being no evidentiary confirmation (it remains curious that with all these cameras and microphones around nothing was found…). Napoli rightly makes its demonstrations and contests the Pilatesque attitude of the League. The solidarity towards Jesus is almost total. So? What is the breaking point? The point is that the world of football – and everyone knows it – is deeply steeped in this archaic and violent mentality. You can hear it every Sunday, you just have to go to the corner, and not only to the corner, to listen to the bestiality that comes out of the fans. And this climate, unfortunately, is also absorbed by the footballers, who are not always able, in the excitement of the result, to manage and control themselves. Perhaps we need to hope in young people, who are more sensitive to respect and greater tolerance. But there is still a lot of work to do. Starting from families, schools and youth centers. It is useless to remember the attitudes of certain ultra parents during the children’s matches. Then we are surprised by Acerbi. Winning is important, growing up educated is much more important.