Antonio Conte characterised it as Napoli’s “bonus” game, a free swing, the mistake they could yet afford. A 2-2 draw at home to Genoa left a bitter taste, after having taken the lead in both halves, but this was no time to panic. “Before this we needed seven points to win the Scudetto,” said Conte. “We took one, so now we must win our last two games.”
It sounded so simple, put like that, but we had just been reminded of why it will not be. Genoa at home was supposed to be the most straightforward of Napoli’s remaining fixtures, against opponents with no objectives left to play for.
Conte’s team were full of confidence. Scott McTominay collected Serie A’s Player of the Month award before kick-off, then sent Romelu Lukaku through to make it 1-0 after a quarter of an hour. Genoa’s first equaliser was a fluke. Alex Meret blocked Honest Ahanor’s header at the near post, but the ball ricocheted off the woodwork and on to the keeper’s knee before rebounding into the goal.
The situation appeared to have righted itself in the second-half, when McTominay, yet again, released Giacomo Raspadori to make it 2-1. The Scotland international demanded a save with a well-struck drive of his own soon afterward. But in the 84th minute, Genoa’s substitute full-back Aarón Martín swung a cross into the Napoli area from the left. Johan Vásquez headed home for 2-2.
Conte has told us for months that his team is overachieving, reminding us constantly they finished 10th last season and success should not be taken for granted. He did it again on Sunday, saying Napoli remained “two steps away from an objective nobody could have predicted at the start.”
His narrative tends to gloss over certain details. Napoli spent close to €150m on transfer fees last summer, and a lack of European football has benefited them. He deserves enormous credit still for sustaining a title push after losing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in midseason, but there can be room here for nuance.
Some will feel that Conte made mistakes even on Sunday. The decision to start Stanislav Lobotka, less than a week after he injured an ankle against Lecce, appeared to backfire when the midfielder had to come off after just 10 minutes. It is not the first time Conte has been accused of trying to bring a Napoli player back too quickly.
Or was the real error the one made by pundits and fans who let themselves believe Genoa would roll over? The visitors’ manager, Patrick Vieira, was asked at full-time whether he had been motivated to give his former team, Inter, a helping hand. “Our objective,” he replied, “was to collect points.”
The overarching message of this Serie A weekend was that nobody should count chickens before they hatch. Juventus thought they were about to take a huge step towards securing Champions League football on Saturday, as they led Lazio 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, before Matías Vecino equalised in the 96th minute.
These teams had started the weekend level in fourth on 63 points. Bologna, one behind, had lost to Milan on Friday night. Roma, also on 63, face a tricky game away to Atalanta on Monday.
A win for Juventus, in other words, might have felt decisive. Fortune appeared to be smiling when their goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio gave away a penalty for bringing down Taty Castellanos in the 87th minute, only for replays to reveal that the striker had run from an offside position. That impression was strengthened when Boulaye Dia’s close-range shot crashed off a post five minutes later.
But Manuel Lazzari forced one more cross into the box, Castellanos headed across goal and Di Gregorio could only push the ball into Vecino’s path. Lazio’s supporters erupted for an equaliser that might yet grant them a path to the Champions League, but for now has given their rivals Roma an opportunity to jump ahead instead.
An astonishing array of outcomes remain possible with just over two rounds of games left to play. Even Milan, who face Roma next weekend, after their Coppa Italia final against Bologna on Wednesday, have not given up hope of an unlikely fourth place.
One observation we can make now, though, is that Juventus’s appointment of Igor Tudor in March has not filled in all the cracks that emerged under Thiago Motta. The Croatian has been praised for delivering more combative performances – the formerBianconeromidfielder Alessio Tacchinardi credited him last week with restoring the team’s “soul” – yet his 1.71 points per game so far are fewer than his predecessor’s 1.79.
Under Tudor, Juventus have let leads slip against direct rivals – Roma, Bologna and now Lazio. A needless red card for Pierre Kalulu, who swung an arm at Castellanos with 30 minutes remaining on Saturday, only reinforced a sense that too many of these wounds are self-inflicted. Tudor’s subsequent introduction of the 19-year-old midfielder Vasilije Adzic, only to take him off again nine minutes later, furthers an impression of muddled thinking.
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Ought we to grant the manager some grace, as he grapples with what has not been a straightforward dressing room? Douglas Luiz, the €50m summer signing who has made three appearances totalling less than 30 minutes on the pitch since Tudor took charge, made fresh headlines over the weekend with a live appearance on Twitch in which he said that “I miss Aston Villa, guys. I miss playing at Villa Park, I miss everything — it’s always in my heart.”
The player backtracked in a subsequent Instagram story, insisting he was not angling for a return and that “one must not confuse nostalgia for a desire to go back. I love Juventus and am totally concentrated on our objectives.”
In amongst all the drama, Juventus might finish this round still in pole position for that final Champions League spot. Saturday’s draw moved them one point ahead of Roma, and they hold a head-to-head tie-breaker over Lazio, thanks to a win in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
TheGiallorossiwill move ahead if they beat Atalanta, but a draw in that game would make things messy indeed. Roma and Juventus drew both times they faced off this season, but in a three-way tie with Lazio a mini-table of results between all of them would be applied. Here, Claudio Ranieri’s team would prevail on goal difference, because they beat Lazio 2-0 at home back in January, where Juventus only won 1-0.
It all adds up to a tantalisingly unpredictable end to this season, with a promise of more uncertainty beyond. Juventus play in the Club World Cup this summer. If they decide not to continue with Tudor next season – the club has not committed itself either way thus far – would they not want to replace him before that begins, to give his replacement the longest-possible run-up to the next Serie A campaign?
Among the many scandalous rumours swirling about is a suggestion they might try to bring back Conte, hoping he can restore them to the top of Serie A just as he brought them out of their post-Calciopoli wilderness 14 years ago. What a “bonus” chapter that would be, to this season of endless intrigue.