2019/20 Serie A

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

Juve beat Lazio 2-1 and will now almost certainly be champions again. 8 points clear with 4 games to go.

Ronaldo scored both and in doing so breaks a number of records.

First Juventus striker to score 30 goals in a Serie A season since the 1950s.
The first ever player to score 30 goals in a season in the premier league, La liga and Serie A.
First player ever to score 50 goals in total in those 3 leagues.
Fastest player in history to reach 50 goals in Serie A (61 games).

So, it’s over. The season that would never end finished with both Charlton and Atalanta suffering injury time daggers to the heart in final games.

Juve stumbled across the line winning the league with what is surely their worst team that has won one of the last eight Serie A titles. They are slow, old and one dimensional. Ronaldo is not far off becoming a target man and loses to Napoli in Coppa Italia final and Lyon in Champions meant that Sarri had to go. You don’t get time at Juve and Pirlo will do well to avoid the Angelli chop if things don’t start well for him.

Conte did well ok at Inter. They had the strongest squad in the league, and had he not had a meltdown pre covid and just after then they may have put enough pressure on Juve for them to faulter. Moses and Young both did very well although Eriksen has been a major disappointment and unbalanced the team. They will win the league next year in my opinion.

The surprise package was Lazio and the continued rise of their manage Inzaghi. Bright, intelligent and not scared of making bold decisions it was Lazio that at one point looked like they might finish on top the pile. Immobile scored, worked hard and now makes him the standout Italian no9. Not that there is huge competition for that right now.

The league has a whole was not very strong and you could argue that Charlton could beat Spal, Brescia or Lecce (who all went down). No Italian teams in Champions semi - final. The gap between now what is the big 8 and the rest is getting larger. Doesn’t seem to be all leagues around the world though? 

Atalanta. It is hard not to start without talking about Covid. It was frightening what happened here. The hospitals couldn’t cope, everyday (and all day) all you could here were ambulances, and everybody here knows somebody that died. Awful times and whilst at one point I was tempted to fly the kids back to UK we dug it out. Stayed indoors for two months and ultimately Italy and Bergamo have come out the other side. The Ultra’s and the Alpini (kind of adult scouts) built a temporary hospital. There was a truce between Brescia and Atalanta fans and even a joint banner went up on one of the bridges that separate the provinces. It lasted 5 days before it was tore down but somebody. There are lots of stories around the nightmare of February and March my own is that a friend cut his hand badly in the kitchen and phoned the hospital to ask if he could come in to get stitches, they told him to not come as the hospital was full of Covid. So, what did he do? He got it stitched at the vets! That is how bad it got and how resourceful people got.

Football. Atalanta are brilliant. They really are. The league at one point looked possible and in the end they finished five points behind Juve in third. They scored more goals than anyone and despite the fact that most Italians are not admirers of the Bergaschi it was Atalanta that everyone cheered for as there second team. The Champions league run was incredible and despite looking like they would be knocked out in the group stages they of course made it to the quarter final. Ultimately, they run out of steam last night and I don’t really want to go into the ins and outs right now. I will point out though that Gollini the first-choice keeper and of course Ilicic missing was crucial. I have mentioned before that Illicic is a strange bloke and he sits in the corner of the dressing room almost alone. He is popular with the other guys though and they have been very supportive of his absence. It has been reported that he hasn’t played because of an issue with his wife and an affair. Nobody really knows what is happening, but my understanding is his wife has major anxiety about Covid and didn’t want him to play.

The club is in a strange place. Again, they have had a good year. But they are not flush with money. Sponsors have been difficult to placate with 30% of home games not open to the public meaning sponsors could not do the corporate thing. Gate receipts obviously lost and the owner Percassi has himself suffered financially has much of his empire is built on retail. He recently brought the rights to Starbucks in Italy. The stadium is in the next phase of development and they are doing a good job of turning a listed building in to a modern stand. Not easy. The Atalana u19’s again won the league and the club still have the strongest youth set up in Italy possibly Europe. The new facilities dedicated to youth at the training ground are astonishing good.

Sadly, for me much of the work I have done with Atalanta this year hit a roadblock because of Covid. We had many youth teams and schools booked from all round the world to come and enjoy the Atalanta experience. Fingers crossed on that. One thing is for sure that four years ago when I started this project, I couldn’t have imagined the exposure the club have got. I will post some more updates further down the line but like the rest of Italy I am going on holiday.

ValleyGary said:

Dzecko going Juve. Not sure what Roma are doing. Zaniolo out and no recognised striker. Shambles.