Allegri king of the derby, Inter 'wasteful', Spalletti takes Juve: what the Serie A matchday told us

Estupinan takes the color cover, Allegri wins another derby and goes through clean, Milan shortens the gap and is now seven points behind Inter. Too many? Probably. But the strong regret emerges of having left behind painful points that would have given a different meaning to this new city derby in the trophy case. Mkhitaryan squanders the advantage like a rookie and immediately afterwards strikes Milan. In the second half, Dimarco, the one with the impossible plays, does even worse than Mkhitaryan and the usual concept emerges, in big challenges Inter always lacks something or someone. In the event of a scudetto, Chivu can be proud of having caught it on the first attempt, a bit less of certain interpretations.

The Juventus is now a daughter, sister, or anyway a very close relative of Luciano Spalletti. The Pisa match was not difficult to untangle, but when you end the first half at 0-0, the risk is that anxiety takes over and complicates situations that on paper seem comfortable. Spalletti proposed the simplest thing in the world: since they didn't get him the central striker he wanted in January, at the end of the first half he took off the only solution he had (David) and no longer provided references, relying on Yildiz. Four goals and the most important confirmation, namely that there is a real coach on the bench capable of finding solutions even when his supposed allies in the transfer market have failed to meet the requests he made. Vlahovic will return soon, and it will be a different tune, perhaps deepening the discussion for the contract renewal that is expiring. We don't believe that David has suddenly become a flop, but the air pockets within the same season (Tudor's dismissal at the forefront) have created problems that only a true leader could have fixed. We don't know if Juventus will make it into the top four, an essential step to avoid throwing away yet another season, but for sure they will fight until the end. The defeat of Roma at home against Genoa is a huge boost, with three more points recovered: from "minus 7" (before Gatti's goal at the Olimpico) to "minus 1" in the span of seven days. De Rossi removes heavy bricks from the building that Gasperini is trying to construct. Someone will have to answer: was it really necessary to spend 25 million for Vaz? In the race for a Champions spot, beware of underestimating Como due to form, squad quality, and psychological aspects.

The Napoli now has a commitment once a week, exactly what De Laurentiis would not have wanted after investing an incredible number of millions. Conte says he has never sought the excuse of injuries when it has gone exactly the opposite way, a continuous lament. Now it will be a matter of managing the relationship with De Laurentiis without damaging rhetoric, the parties will meet and decide what to do based on a contract that expires in 2027, the famous piece of paper that guarantees nothing in the absence of total harmony. Meanwhile, qualifying for the Champions is fundamental regardless of what they will say to each other, Torino was dismantled without any effort. The story of Atalanta is different, it is no coincidence that they have only collected two draws in the last three matches (including the Coppa Italia) after the effort to eliminate Borussia Dortmund in the Champions playoffs. Tomorrow, they face Bayern in the round of 16, an almost impossible climb, it would already be a success to present themselves in Bavaria without too many slaps to recover from.