Title Race Wide Open

[Zizou]

After witnessing to probably one of the best games of the season, that between Milan-Juventus, one cannot not feel that this season will end up just like the previous four seasons; the final winner will emerge in the last game and not before.

Inter missed a big opportunity to reach Juventus at the top, and one cannot help but question whether they have the mental attributes to sustain a challenge till the very end. Whenever Inter had to show their strength against big teams, or had a chance of taking the top spot, they fell on their faces.

Milan have been far from impressive as of late, but against Juventus Ancellotti went back to the old 4-4-2 style he played with till last season, and that made his team play better. Shevcenko and Inzaghi had not scored in the same match since December 2001, during Milan-Chievo (3-2); whether this was just a flash in the pan or the re-birth of an excellent attacking duo is still to be seen.

Juventus will thank next week’s league break, as it will help them recover their injured players, namely Del Piero, Trezeguet and Di Vaio. Still their good display against Milan will keep their morales high and with 8 games left, are still the hot favourites to win the Scudetto for the 27th time.

With all three teams having to play in the Champions League, they might have to renounce to either the league or the European competition, as in recent years, only Manchester United succeeded in making a double. However the Italian League is still the main objective for all 3 teams, so they will all take one game at a time and see where they stand by the return of the Champions League before deciding to focus on either one of them.

Let’s check out who are the opponents for the top 3, in the final 8 games of the season (in capital letters are the home matches):

Milan: Parma, Inter, EMPOLI, Roma, COMO, Brescia, BOLOGNA, Piacenza
Inter: ROMA, MILAN, Brescia, LAZIO, Atalanta, PARMA, Modena, PERUGIA
Juventus: TORINO, Bologna, ROMA, BRESCIA, Lazio, PERUGIA, Reggina, CHIEVO

Undoubtedly, Milan have the hardest games, considering that they only have 3 more (easy) home matches remaining. They will have to travel to Parma, Roma and Brescia which are very difficult grounds to win in, but most importantly the derby against Inter will soon be up, which will probably seal the fate for their respective league chances.

Inter have 5 home games left, but contrary to Milan they are very tough home matches starting with Roma and finishing off with Perugia. Their away games will also be against in form teams (Brescia, Atalanta and Modena), and will be very difficult for Inter to grab 3 points in each encounter.

Juventus have probably the ‘easiest’ games from the three; however they have to watch out mainly from the Torino derby and Lazio away game. Even though they seem to have the best road for the league, their Champions League commitments might put them off track in the league.

All in all, it will be another entertaining finish to the season; gone are the days when Milan or Juventus used to kill of their opposition 9 games before the end of the season, thus helping the Italian league getting good publicity abroad, after years of being dubbed as boring and uninteresting.

[Mark]

looking at those remaining fixtures, gotta say that Juve are massive favourites but ya never know, the small time games are often those where the big sides can slip up and then raise their game for the bigger games so you can't write off Inter or AC as yet, still fully expect Juve to win it though, they will have blown a massive opportunity if they fail to

[soccerchic]

well i wouldn't count any as favourites, the title is anyone's. like zz said it's gonna be just like last season. and i think juve will take it again (although i hope inter does) :ph34r:

[Zizou]

In recent years, there were times were teams had 9 points (Juve) or even 8 points (Lazio) etc more than their closest rivals with 8/9 games left, yet they lost it in the end.

I think as it is, physical preparation is highly important, cos if a team performs well for 8 out of 9 months, but then goes down in the last month, they end up losing all. Teams have to be at their top for 9 out of 9 months nowadays to win, so we shall see who will hold better frm these 3.

[Morbo]

Originally posted by Zizou@Mar 24 2003, 11:02 AM
Milan: Parma, Inter, EMPOLI, Roma, COMO, Brescia, BOLOGNA, Piacenza
Inter: ROMA, MILAN, Brescia, LAZIO, Atalanta, PARMA, Modena, PERUGIA
Juventus: TORINO, Bologna, ROMA, BRESCIA, Lazio, PERUGIA, Reggina, CHIEVO

The only game that i can see Juve losing is away to Lazio, and there is no reason they cant win all the other games.

[Horsey]

Inter seem to have the more difficult run-in. I recon Juve will win in the end - they are all in the Champs League still so no difference there. Gonna be a tight race. Juve are experienced enough - they can cope.

[Zizou]

Originally posted by Morbo+Mar 24 2003, 05:29 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Morbo @ Mar 24 2003, 05:29 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin--Zizou@Mar 24 2003, 11:02 AM
Milan: Parma, Inter, EMPOLI, Roma, COMO, Brescia, BOLOGNA, Piacenza
Inter: ROMA, MILAN, Brescia, LAZIO, Atalanta, PARMA, Modena, PERUGIA
Juventus: TORINO, Bologna, ROMA, BRESCIA, Lazio, PERUGIA, Reggina, CHIEVO

The only game that i can see Juve losing is away to Lazio, and there is no reason they cant win all the other games. [/b][/quote]
Bologna away is a difficult match too so Juve might lose points there.