KAMPALA: Luciano Spalletti has his best chance to dispel the notion he is the nearly man of Italian football this season. In 28 years as coach in Serie A, the 63-year-old has never lifted the Scudetto, with his only significant silverware being consecutive Coppa Italia crowns with AS Roma in 2007 and 2008. With Napoli bossing both Italian top-flight and Champions League standings while playing scintillating attacking football, Spalletti must be developing anticipatory butterflies in his stomach.
Partenopei geared up for Sunday’s visit to winless Cremonese by obliterating five-time European champions Ajax Amsterdam 6-1 at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. Five different scorers were on target as Spalletti’s side confirmed their status as dark horses in the tournament. It was the third successive match in which the 1989 Uefa Cup winners have scored four or more goals in Europe.
The decline of record champions Juventus, coupled with the inconsistence of Milan giants, Inter and AC, has opened the door for Napoli as well as upstarts Atalanta and Udinese. Currently joint top with Napoli on 20 points, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Nerazzuri have the unenviable task of trying to end Udinese’s red hot streak which has already seen Andrea Sottil’s Bianconeri claim the scalps of Inter Milan, AS Roma and Fiorentina.
Reigning champions AC Milan can move level with the leaders for at least 24 hours if they overcome Juventus on Saturday night. Milan boss Stefano Pioli must navigate one of the division’s trickiest fixtures without injured quartet Simon Kjaer, David Calabria and Alessandro Florenzi. Having shown great resilience to outlast Barcelona 1-0 in the Champions League, Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan are hoping to end a four match losing streak when they travel to free scoring Sassuolo.
SATURDAY
Sassuolo v Inter Milan,
AC Milan v Juventus,
Bologna v Sampdoria
SUNDAY
Torino v Empoli, Monza v Spezia,
Salernitana v Hellas Verona,
Udinese v Atalanta,
Cremonese v Napoli,
AS Roma v Lecce,
MONDAY
Fiorentina v Lazio