More Inter Milan dominance, Napoli have hope and Jose Mourinho is sacked: this is how the week in Serie A can be summarised. The team coached by Simone Inzaghi appear an unstoppable tank - but Juventus remain at their heels. Let's see what happened in Serie A...
MOMENT OF THE WEEK - RRAHMANI'S GOAL
Saturday afternoon's match between Napoli and Salernitana looked like the most classic of cursed games. Salernitana had taken the lead thanks to a goal scored by Antonio Candreva, who despite his advancing age, against top clubs becomes a top player: whether with a goal or an assist, against big teams Candreva always leaves his mark.
At the end of the first half, Napoli managed to find a penalty kick, which Matteo Politano scored, bringing the score back to even. In the second half, the Italian champions went on the assault with all their offensive potential, coming close to scoring the winning goal several times. In particular, the man who was making the difference was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian who seemed unstoppable last year. He tried hard to get the ball into the net, but his opponents, particularly Guillermo Ochoa, repeatedly told him "no".
When all seemed lost and yet another draw was on the doorstep, there came one of those unexpected goals that manage to turn seasons around: it was Amir Rrahmani who found the 2-1 goal, taking advantage of a vacant ball that he had the merit of stopping and shooting with great coolness. A heartbreaker for Salernitana, which once again lost points right in the final moment of the game.
TEAM OF THE WEEK - INTER MILAN
It will be really difficult for Juventus to catch Inter, which seems unbeatable at the moment. On Saturday night, Simone Inzaghi and his team were playing at home to Monza, but for Raffaele Palladino and his team there was never a chance of victory.
Too much Inter, too much Hakan Calhanoglu, too much quality and too much talent at Inzaghi's disposal to put up any resistance. The match ended 1-5 and the result could have been even worse, as during the first-half alone Lautaro and co. could have made it five.
First Calhanoglu's penalty, then the Argentine's goal that basically sealed the match, as Monza's comeback attempt, which had found the goal through Mattia Pessina, was stopped by an offside position. Then came the 3-0, scored again by the Turkish midfielder, who is playing at incredible levels, just before the 4-0 (Lautaro again) and the 5-0 (Marcus Thuram). Inter at the moment are unstoppable, only Juventus in Italy seems to be able to keep up with them, but the Bianconeri are not allowed the slightest misstep given the ease with which the Nerazzurri bring home one result after another.
Kudos must be given to Inzaghi, because his boys are playing well and are deserving match after match to be the favourites for the final title victory.
MOMENT OF THE WEEK - MOURINHO SACKED
Without any doubt the news of the weekend. After Roma's defeat against AC Milan, with the Rossoneri winning on the pitch 3-1, chairman Dan Friedkin decided it was time to say "enough" and sack the Special One.
29 points in 20 games, out of the Coppa Italia after losing the Derby, second in the Europa League group, poor performances and bad results in games against the other big teams in the league. Probably the defeat suffered in Milan was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Mourinho is out after the 20th matchday of the championship, regardless of how one feels about the issue, the dismissal of a legend like Mourinho must be the highlight of the Serie A weekend. Of course we will discuss it further.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK - DUSAN VLAHOVIC
Perhaps he is not only the player of the week, but he is really the man of the moment. Right now Juventus is resting entirely on the shoulders of the Serbian striker, who one goal after another is leading the team in this tight Scudetto fight with Inter.
In the match against Sassuolo on Tuesday night Vlahovic scored two extraordinary goals, the first with a shot from outside the box, a marvelous trajectory that ended up under the posts, and the second with a practically perfect free kick, on which Andrea Consigli could do nothing but watch the ball go in behind him.
The Serbian is shaking off all the criticism he had to live with for several months, when he could not pull his game together and was the most criticised player on the team. Now after every goal Dusan seems to say, "See, this is who Vlahovic is. This is Vlahovic". Yes, a formidable striker.
