Inter turned the turbo on and ran away at the top of the standings, lengthening the distance to +7 over Max Allegri's Juventus. At the moment, Serie A seems over, with the Nerazzurri looking like they are totally on another level. Simone Inzaghi's boys beat Roma 2-4, making the most of the few chances conceded by the Giallorossi. The Bianconeri, on the other hand, lost to Udinese. Let's see what happened...
MATCH OF THE WEEK - ROMA vs iNTER
The most entertaining match of the weekend and probably one of the best of the last period. Daniele De Rossi's Roma has changed its identity, now plays better and is convinced it can go head-to-head against anyone, even against the strongest team in the league.
And so it did Saturday afternoon against Inter. In the past, the Giallorossi used to arrive at important matches with a kind of reverential fear, convinced they were not strong enough; De Rossi in less than a month has changed the nature of the Giallorossi team.
Saturday afternoon at the Stadio Olimpico, Lorenzo Pellegrini and his teammates played an excellent game, led by the captain and Stephan El Shaarawy, but they were forced to surrender to Inter's talent, at this moment a team simply superior to all the others.
The Giallorossi started better, coming close to scoring on two occasions, but Francesco Acerbi found the go-ahead goal in a rather fortunate and fortuitous way. Then a vehement reaction by Roma: a perfect free kick by Pellegrini, Gianluca Mancini finding a header and scored. Shortly afterwards also came the goal for the lead, with a counterattack led by Pellegrini and finished in the best possible way by El Shaarawy, with an incredible shot. Definitely the best Roma of the season in the first 45 minutes.
In the second half, however, Inter returned to the pitch more convinced and took advantage of a serious inattention by Bryan Cristante and Leandro Paredes, who were intent on protesting for a free kick in the centre of the pitch: the Nerazzurri quickly took the free kick finding the midfield uncovered and thus came the equaliser. Shortly after came the third, an own goal by Angelino made in an attempt to prevent Marcus Thuram from sending the ball into the net. Late in the game the fourth goal also came, with the counterattack closed by Alessndro Bastoni, but on the 2-3 score Romelu Lukaku had two huge chances to score the equalising goal, but he missed both chances. De Rossi's Roma is growing, Simone Inzaghi's Inter is just too strong for the others.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK - DE KETELAERE
Looking at him now, it seems strange that he could be the same struggling, timid and awkward player seen in the Milan jersey. The Belgian has blossomed under Gian Piero Gasperini's guidance and between goals and assists he is currently taking Atalanta by the hand.
The former AC Milan player was one of the best on the field in the Bergamaschi's match against Genoa on Sunday: the first goal was scored by Charles himself, with an incredible shot, stopped with one foot and then finished in the corner with the other. A constant danger for his opponents, a point of reference for Gasperini's men, he is Atalanta's man in the spotlight at the moment, and the credit goes to his coach, who has accomplished yet another masterpiece by regenerating a player who seemed to have been lost.
With a De Ketelaere like this and Ademola Lookman returning from the African Cup of Nations, fourth place now seems destined for Atalanta: the other contenders for a Champions League spot will have to produce an incredible run to make up ground.
SURPRISE OF THE WEEK - UDINESE DEFEAT JUVENTUS
Unbelievable, but true: Juventus may have lost ground for good in the Scudetto race by losing at home, in front of their own fans, to Udinese, the second ranked team to have won fewer games in the league, only three.
A great opportunity missed by the Bianconeri, who despite already knowing the result of Roma-Inter managed the feat of losing.
Without Dusan Vlahovic, Max Allegri trusted Fede Chiesa and Arek Milik, but the two strikers heavily and severely betrayed their coach's expectations, playing a very poor game. Every Juventus player was guilty, however, this must be said: Rabiot, Locatelli, McKennie, Bremer, Chiesa, Weah, Milik, are all top players, but were unable to get the better of a team in great difficulty like Udinese.
Certainly Allegri's teams don't play attacking football and do not allow the most talented players to put all their technical qualities on the field, but some matches should be won even if only through experience. Of course, due credit must be given to the boys coached by Lele Cioffi, who thanks to Lautaro Giannetti's goal produced a real masterpiece and momentarily were out of the hot zone of the standings. Bravo Udinese, but dear Juventus, this is not good enough.