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Race for the Scudetto: Inter Milan have title wrapped up; Paredes now the brain of Roma; Monza embarrass AC Milan

Perhaps over the latest weekend of the Italian championship came the exclamation mark on Serie A 2023/2024. Inter won again, no one can stop the Nerazzurri, while Juventus were halted again, this time even against Verona, a team in great difficulty. Max Allegri and his men are disappointing at the most delicate moment and Simone Inzaghi is grateful: now Inter has 9 points more than the Bianconeri, with the possibility of going to +12 with a game in hand. Let's see what happened in Serie A...


TALKING POINT - HAS INTER ALREADY WON THE SCUDETTO?

At this point the doubt is more than legitimate, but above all I think we are facing a fact and there is little to doubt: Inter may have already won the Scudetto.

The Nerazzurri are playing at a very high level, they keep winning every weekend, and the distance between them and Juventus is now too great to imagine comebacks or twists and turns. With the 4-0 win over Salernitana, Inter sprinted to 63 points in the standings, bringing them to +9 over Juventus, which was stopped by Verona at 2-2.

Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Marko Arnautovic: these were the 4 players who signed Inter's victory. A team that scores a lot of goals, concedes little and dominates against everyone. A perfect machine, expertly built by Beppe Marotta and Simone Inzaghi, who will probably already feel he has one hand on the Scudetto.

It is hard to imagine that Juventus can make up the lost ground: at the moment there are nine points that Max Allegri and his boys need to take back from the Nerazzurri. Very difficult to believe Inter losing more than three games between now and the end of the season, especially considering that for Juventus to overtake them, they cannot lose any more points on the road. The feeling is that Inter has already won the Scudetto.


PLAYER OF THE WEEK - LEANDRO PAREDES

Since Daniele De Rossi arrived, the Argentine has started to play at levels never seen in the capital, indeed he has probably rarely played as well as he has in this period.

Leandro has become the brain of Roma, he really looks like a sort of miniature copy of his current coach, the player from whom the Argentine inherited the number 16 jersey. Coach De Rossi's ideas seem to match perfectly with the characteristics of Paredes, who has not missed half a game since January 16.

Roma plays much shorter: Leandro has to cover less of the field defensively and for him in the build-up phase it is easier to find his teammates between the lines and reward their movements, which is why his performance has improved markedly both defensively and offensively.

In the last match against Frosinone, Paredes even scored a goal, from a penalty kick. He and Lorenzo Pellegrini are definitely the players who have benefited most from the change on the bench. The Argentine really looks like a different player.


TEAM OF THE WEEK - BOLOGNA

We said it a few weeks ago: Thiago Motta's Bologna, after a complicated period in which they lost easy points, is back. Josh Zirkzee and his teammates on Sunday beat Maurizio Sarri's Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, thus rising to fifth place in the standings, 7 points behind third place in the table, ahead of Roma, Lazio, Napoli and other teams.

It is an incredible achievement, perhaps we do not fully realize what Motta and his boys are doing this year. We have become accustomed to and are taking it for granted seeing Bologna playing with personality and profit against anyone, even against the strongest teams in the league, but it is definitely not a given.

On Sunday Oussama El Azzouzi and Zirkzee gave Bologna the win, answering Gustav Isaksen's early goal. Motta continues to achieve important results by showing great tactical knowledge and just as much pragmatism.


SURPRISE OF THE WEEK - MONZA DEFEAT MILAN

Another masterclass by Raffaele Palladino. The Monza coach got the better of Stefano Pioli, winning 4-2 against Milan and preventing the Rossoneri from overtaking Juventus in second place in the standings.

It was a one-sided match, a continuous and uncontested domination by Andrea Colpani and his teammates, despite the fact that at one point the result was 2-2 (thanks to great performances by Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic). The rotations chosen by Pioli did not pay off and Palladino took advantage: Matteo Pessina and Dany Mota put Monza up 2-0; Milan had momentarily grabbed the equaliser with Giroud and Pulisic, but Warren Bondo and Lorenzo Colombo scored first the 3-2 and then the 4-2.

Bondo scored Monza's third goal, moreover a great goal with a sensational shot, one on which Mike Maignan could do nothing about, his first goal, as evidenced by his burst of joy. A bad misstep by Pioli and his boys: thus the season is in danger of becoming anonymous before its time. At this point the hope lies in the Europa League campaign...

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Matteo Vitale
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Matteo Vitale

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