Today I thought it was far past due to give an update on how the Italian league is shaping up this season, seeing as over half the season is complete now. There are definitely some surprises in the table, managerial drama, and much more coming out of Calcio. Here’s an overview on the season so far!

League Table:

European Places Race:

So far, it has been somewhat of a down season for the ever-present giants of Italian football, and the beneficiary of this has been Antonio Conte and his Napoli side. Currently with one more game played than Inter, they hold a 3 point lead over Simone Inzaghi’s side, and would sit 2nd behind Inter on goal differential, provided Inter win their game in hand. Conte’s Napoli have the least amount of games with points dropped this season, taking all 3 points in 16 of 21 matches so far. The Napoli midfield have all been standouts under Conte this season. Slovak anchorman Stanislav Lobotka screens the defence, while Franck Zambo-Anguissa and Scott McTominay operate more as box crashing 8’s. McTominay in particular has looked a player revitalized after arriving at the Estadio Diego Maradona in the summer from Manchester United. It does go to show the state of Manchester United, when so many of their players leave the club and immediately re-find their form. Romelu Lukaku has recorded 14 goal contributions in Serie A this season, and has been a major component of Napoli’s position in the table.

With 47 points from 20 games, it is hard to really say that Inter Milan are having a down year. It is more when you compare this season to the utterly dominant year that Inzaghi engineered last season, it feels like Inter no longer have the same chokehold on the Serie A. If Inter win their game in hand, they would move top of the league, and the gap between 2nd and 3rd place would grow to 7 points, making out to be a two team title race this year barring any surprises.

Atalanta have done well for themselves again this year under Gasperini, who’s managerial acumen surely cannot be doubted at this point. They have lacked a bit of the consistency required to truly make a title challenge, but are looking like favorites to take a Champions League place. Lazio are the more surprising team in the Top 4, partially due to other teams slipping, and in part due to another common theme, former Premier League “rejects”, finding their form again in Italy. Nuno Tavares, formerly a fringe player under Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, is having his best season of his career for Lazio, notching an assist every other game in the league so far from LB. Taty Castellanos is having a strong season as well up front for Lazio.

The race for the 3-8th positions will be very close, and depending on how Italian clubs fare in the UEFA competitions this year, the 5th place team from Serie A could yet again gain a Champions League qualification spot. The gap from 4th place to 9th place could be just 6 points, depending on the games in hand. Juventus and AC Milan are having inconsistent seasons, with Juve still technically “unbeaten” but with 13 draws in 21 matches, they have left far too many points on the board. Fiorentina and Bologna are performing more or less as expected, with Bologna doing better than most would’ve predicted after they lost key players last season.

Rest of the Table:

Some fun stories from the rest of the table. AS Roma has had a tumultuous season, sacking Daniele de Rossi early on, then sacking his replacement, coming close to bringing de Rossi back, before Roma called on the one manager who would never say no to them: Claudio Ranieri. Ranieri grew up in Rome and has been a Roma supporter since he was a young boy. After his adventures in the Premier League with Leicester, Ranieri returned to Cagliari last year where he kept them in the Serie A in a nervous season. This year, he’s returned to his boyhood club, and Roma have only lost 3 matches in their last 12 since Ranieri returned. If you’re a fan of football, then seeing Claudio Ranieri doing his thing again at Roma should warm your heart.

Speaking of Lazio, the most bizarre headline in football this year came out of the Italian capital. Lazio fired their falconer, the man who brings out the club’s mascot, an eagle, before every match, because the falconer shared photos of his new “penile implant” on social media. That wasn’t all though! A Lazio board member commented on the situation, saying that what the falconer did was “worse than performing a fascist salute”, which is certainly a unique way of looking at things. Not sure I’d agree with that one though. The reason that example was chosen wasn’t entirely random, in 2021 Lazio suspended their falconer for doing just this, performing a fascist salute after a match. Just another day in the Serie A!

Cesc Fabregas’s Como side have gotten a lot of attention this year, understandably so. It is, in a way, Italy’s version of Wrexham. A good mix of veterans and promising youngsters were brought in ahead of Como’s first Serie A season, and so far it is paying off. Como currently sit in 13th place, aided in great part due to the outstanding performances of Nico Paz, the Real Madrid loanee who will almost certainly be sold by Madrid this summer. However, Como are not assured safety yet, as the gap between 11th place and the relegation zone is a mere 4 points. The gap between 9th place and 18th place is just 8 points.

If the battle for the European places fizzles out and looks like it will be decided early, then the relegation battle in the Serie A this year looks like it will go right down to the wire, which can often be more exciting than a title race. One of the most balanced seasons in recent Serie A history, it’s all left to play for in the second half of the season.

If you’re still reading this, I hope you have a great day. 🙂

-LM