Football is the best game on the planet; of course it is. It combines pace, power, and skill more than any other sport and is watched by billions of people worldwide.
The beautiful game can take you into a state of ecstasy one week and break your heart the next. The highs and lows are steeper than almost any other area of life and we simply love it. And the extremes of emotion are no better illustrated than in Serie A right now, where Napoli are on the crest of a wave, 19 points clear at the top of the table, and Cremonese are rock bottom and 11 from safety.
The Serie A 2023 betting odds here at SBOTOP tell you it’s pretty much a done deal at either end and, with just nine games to play that’s some situation for each club to be in.
Napoli have performed so well that they have blown the competition apart, and are now serious contenders to win the Champions League, and head coach Luciano Spalletti has just been recognised by Italian football, winning the 2023 Enzo Bearzot Award, chosen by a panel of football journalists in Italy. There wasn’t really any doubt as his team’s Serie A 2023 news have been simply sensational, with 23 wins, two draws and two defeats and they have scored the most goals (64) and conceded the fewest (16).
With one win, ten draws and 16 defeats, Cremonese are at the other end of the scale and owner Giovanni Arvedi has said his club simply wasn’t ready to take on life at the top table. He threw the dice in January with the appointment of former Genoa boss Davide Ballardini and, under his guidance, La Crema picked up their only win, a stunning 2-1 victory over Jose Mourinho’s Roma in February. But one point from the following three games brought Cremonese back down to earth.
Having returned to the top division last season, thanks to a second placed finish to Lecce, hopes were high at Cremonese but Arvedi has recently admitted they were unjustified, saying: “This year we’re not happy, but we’ve learned something. Honestly, we were not prepared to face Serie A, we didn’t know it. I admit that we were not structurally prepared. We are preparing with the coaches we have now, who are good, but they are insufficient. You make a huge leap from Serie B to Serie A in terms of organisation, but also in terms of quality, stamina and experience of the players.
“We have lost some matches by giving up.”
Pretty harsh stuff…but Cremonese have faired better in the Coppa Italia where they have reached the semi-finals and will face Fiorentina next month.
No Juve players as Azzurri’s crash to England
Italy lost to England in their Euro 2024 opener in Naples, though the Azzurri had chances to draw or even win the game as they pegged the Three Lions back from 2-0 to 2-1, but Roberto Mancini’s team ran out of time. But there was another curiosity at the Stadio Diego Maradona as the Italy squad contained not one Juventus player for the first time since 1994. Centre back Leonardo Bonnucci was picked as captain but he has struggled with fitness for much of the domestic campaign, and though he joined the Azzurri in Naples he returned to Turin pretty sharpish to continue his recovery.
Bonnucci was badly missed as Italy failed to clear an early England attack and Declan Rice put the visitors ahead which gave Italy an uphill battle.
The Azzurri are in the final four of the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League and are reigning European Champions but they will be keen to get their Euro 2024 campaign back on track. I suspect we’ll see a Bianconeri player in the next round of fixtures; if not Bonnucci then maybe Manuel Locatelli or Federico Chiesa.
Come on Mancini…you know it makes sense!
After the break…
Once the international fortnight has passed we’ll be back to Serie A action and, while Napoli are three wins away from picking up a first Scudetto since 1990, the race for the Champions League places is hotting up. And Juventus might just be clawing their way back into contention. I Bianconeri is in seventh place, seven points behind AC Milan in fourth, and 11 behind Lazio in second.
A home game against 18th placed Hellas Verona gives Juve a great chance to keep the momentum moving while sixth placed Atalanta return with a trip to bottom club Cremonese.
Third placed Inter Milan plays on Saturday 1st too, at home to Fiorentina, while the other chasers are in action on Sunday. Lazio visit Monza, fifth-placed Roma host Sampdoria, and AC Milan…head to Naples to take on the champions elect.
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