What happened in Serie A 2017-18

The previous season had seen Juventus win the scudetto ahead of Roma and Napoli. At the end of the first half of the season, Juve had a four-point lead over Roma and seven on Napoli. The Bianconeri dominated from start to finish and their win was never really in any doubt.

Milan were the protagonists of the summer transfer market signing Lucas Biglia (Lazio), Franck Kessie (Atalanta), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) and Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Bayer Leverkusen). Juve got Federico Bernardeschi while Lazio brought in Lucas Leiva and Nani. Luciano Spalletti was Inter’s new manager and Eusebio Di Francesco became head coach at Roma.

August

The season started early for Milan since they were involved in the third qualifying round for the Europa League which was played on July 27 and August 3. The Rossoneri won both games against Universitatea Craiova and went through to the play offs where they demolished Shkendija 7-0 on aggregate.

Napoli had to play the Champions League playoff against Nice in August. They won both legs 2-0 and proceeded to the group stage.

Lazio beat Juventus in the Supercoppa thanks to a last second Alessandro Murgia goal.

In the first two games of Serie A, Lazio were surprisingly forced to settle to a goalless draw by Spal in the opening game and Inter beat Roma away.

Juventus 6, Inter 6, Napoli 6, Milan 6, Sampdoria 6, Torino 4, Spal 4, Bologna 4, Lazio 4, Chievo 3, Roma 3, Genoa 1, Verona 1, Crotone 1, Sassuolo 1, Udinese 0, Benevento 0, Atalanta 0, Cagliari 0, Fiorentina 0

September

A trio of teams led Serie A: Napoli, who beat Lazio away, Juventus, who won the derby, and Inter. Lazio thrashed Milan 4-1. Benevento were yet to get a point.

In the Champions League Roma drew their first game with Atlético Madrid at home and won away against Qarabag. Juventus lost 3-0 to Barcelona but then beat Olimpiacos 2-0 at home. Napoli lost their first game to Shakhtar Donetsk but beat Feyenoord.

In the Europa League Milan beat both Austria Wien away and Rijeka at home, Atalanta won against Everton at home and drew away with Lyon, Lazio beat both Vitesse away and Zulte Waregem at home.

Napoli 18, Juventus 18, Inter 16, Lazio 13, Roma 12*, Milan 12, Sampdoria 11*, Torino 11, Atalanta 8, Chievo 8, Bologna 8, Fiorentina 7, Cagliari 6, Spal 4, Sassuolo 4, Crotone 4, Udinese 3, Genoa 2, Verona 2, Benevento 0

* one game in hand

October

Napoli became solitary leaders, beating Roma away and drawing with Inter at home. Juventus slowed down after losing at home to Lazio despite a penalty awarded in the last minute but missed by Paulo Dybala. Milan continued to struggle, beaten at home by Roma and Juve as well as losing the derby. Benevento increased their losing streak to 11.

In the Champions League Roma drew 3-3 away to Chelsea but then beat them at home 3-0. Juventus beat Sporting 2-1 at home and with the Portuguese away. Napoli instead lost both games against Manchester City.

In the Europa League Milan drew at home with AEK Athens, Atalanta beat Apollon Limassol and Lazio won in Nice.

Napoli 31, Inter 29, Juventus 28, Lazio 28, Roma 24*, Sampdoria 20*, Fiorentina 16, Milan 16, Torino 16, Atalanta 15, Chievo 15, Bologna 14, Udinese 12, Cagliari 9, Crotone 9, Spal 8, Sassuolo 8, Genoa 6, Verona 6, Benevento 0

* one game in hand

November

Napoli continued to lead with Inter and Juventus a few points behind. The Azzurri beat Milan while Roma won the derby. Benevento still had not earned a point yet. The Rossoneri fired Vincenzo Montella and signed Gennaro Gattuso as new head coach.

In the Champions League Roma lost away to Atlético Madrid. They were second on 8 points with Chelsea on 10 and Atlético on 6. They needed to win the final match against Qarabag to secure at least second place. Juventus drew at home with Barcelona and were also second on 8 points, one more than Sporting and three behind Barcelona. Juve too had to win their last game away to Olimpiacos to secure second place. Napoli beat Shakhtar Donetsk but their chances of moving to the knock phase were slim. They needed to beat Feyenoord away and hope Manchester City won in Donetsk.

In the Europa League Milan drew away with AEK Athens and then beat Austria Wien at home. With one fixture left, they had already qualified top. Atalanta drew away with Apollon Limassol then demolished Everton 5-1 in Liverpool. They were first in their group alongside Lyon with the final game at home against the French. Lazio beat Nice and qualified first with two games to spare. They then drew at home with Vitesse.

In the Coppa Italia 4th round, Genoa, Torino, Sassuolo, Udinese, Verona, Pordenone, Sampdoria and Cittadella qualified for the Round of 16 where they would meet the big Serie A teams.

Napoli 38, Inter 36, Juventus 34, Roma 31*, Lazio 29*, Sampdoria 26*, Milan 20, Bologna 20, Chievo 20, Atalanta 19, Torino 19, Fiorentina 18, Cagliari 15, Udinese 12*, Crotone 12, Sassuolo 11, Genoa 10, Spal 10, Verona 9, Benevento 0

* one game in hand

December

Napoli continued to lead but were now only one point ahead  of Juventus who beat them in the first game of the month in Naples. The Azzurri momentarily lost first spot but went back top two games later after winning against Torino away and Inter surprisingly losing at home to Udinese. The Bianconeri then drew at home with Inter but beat Roma. The Neroazzurri fell further back, drawing at home with Lazio. Benevento got their first point against Milan with an equaliser in the last possible second scored by their goalkeeper!!! They then won their first game in the final game of the year by beating Chievo at home.

In the Champions League Roma topped their group after beating Qarabag at home and taking advantage of a draw between Chelsea and Atlético. Juventus came second in theirs after winning away against Olimpiacos. Napoli qualified for the Europa League after being beaten by Feyenoord.

Milan lost their final game in Europa League against Rijeka but they had already qualified top. Lazio too lost, vs Zulte Waregem, but had qualified and won the group a month earlier. Atalanta beat Lyon and won their group.

All the top teams of Serie A, with the exception of Roma eliminated by Torino, qualified for the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia. At the end of the month Lazio and Milan secured the semis by eliminating Fiorentina and Inter (in extra time).

Napoli 48, Juventus 47, Inter 41, Roma 39*, Lazio 37*, Sampdoria 30*, Fiorentina 27, Udinese 27*, Atalanta 27, Torino 25, Milan 25, Bologna 24, Chievo 21, Sassuolo 21, Cagliari 20, Genoa 18, Spal 15, Crotone 15, Verona 13, Benevento 4

* one game in hand

January

Napoli and Juventus continued to lead. Lazio took third place winning their game against Udinese that had been postponed and scoring five against Spal and Chievo. They did however lose away to Milan. Inter earned just three points and were overtaken. Below, despite a second win, Benevento looked as if they were already back in Serie B, with Verona and Spal not looking good either.

In the other two Coppa Italian quarter finals, Atalanta beat Napoli away and Juventus won the derby against Torino. In the first leg of the semis, Juve won at Bergamo and Milan and Lazio drew 0-0.

Napoli 57, Juventus 56, Lazio 46, Inter 44, Roma 41, Sampdoria 37, Milan 34, Atalanta 33, Udinese 32, Torino 32, Fiorentina 28, Bologna 27, Chievo 22, Sassuolo 22, Genoa 21, Cagliari 21, Crotone 19, Spal 17, Verona 16, Benevento 7

February

Napoli went to +4 but only because Juventus had a game postponed. In the meantime the Azzurri won every match, including beating Lazio, and also won at Cagliari 5-0. Juve in turn beat Sassuolo 7-0 and won the derby. In the relegation battle Spal and Verona closed in on  Crotone.

In the Champions League Juventus drew the first leg of the round of 16 2-2 with Tottenham at home. Roma lost 2-1 away to Shakhtar Donetsk.

In Europa League Atalanta were knocked out by Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on aggregate, Napoli by RB Leipzig on away goals but Lazio went through eliminating FCSB 5-2 on aggregate as did Milan, beating Ludogorets Razgard 4-0.

The Coppa Italia final would be between Juventus, who beat Atalanta even in the second leg, and Milan who had the better of Lazio in a penalty shootout.

Napoli 69, Juventus 65*, Lazio 52, Inter 51, Roma 50, Sampdoria 44, Milan 44, Atalanta 38*, Torino 36, Fiorentina 35, Udinese 33, Bologna 33, Genoa 30, Cagliari 25, Chievo 25, Sassuolo 23, Crotone 21, Spal 20, Verona 19, Benevento 10

* one game in hand

March

Before the Udinese vs Fiorentina game, defender Davide Astori was found dead in his hotel room. He had suffered a heart attack. As a consequence, all games of the 27th fixture were postponed with the exception of the three that had taken place the day before. Juventus won in Rome against Lazio and Napoli lost at home to Roma. The Azzurri then drew against Inter and the Bianconeri by beating Udinese overtook them and then went to +4 when they beat Atalanta in the match that had been postponed the previous month. They also beat Milan. Below Spal managed to overtake Crotone and get closer to Chievo and Sassuolo.

In the Champions League both Juventus and Roma proceeded to the quarter finals after the Bianconeri won away at Tottenham and Roma beat Shakhtar Donetsk at home.

Lazio qualified for the quarterfinals of the Europa League beating Dynamo Kiev 4-2 on aggregate. Milan instead were eliminated, losing both games to Arsenal.

Juventus 78*, Napoli 74*, Roma 60*, Inter 58, Lazio 57*, Milan 50, Atalanta 47, Fiorentina 44, Sampdoria 44, Torino 39, Bologna 35*, Udinese 33, Genoa 31, Cagliari 29, Chievo 28, Sassuolo 28, Spal 26*, Crotone 24, Verona 22, Benevento 10

* one game more

April

Juventus continued to lead. Napoli had managed to win in Turin in the 34th fixture narrowing the gap to just one point but then collapsed in Florence 3-0 while the Bianconeri won in Milan against Inter. Lazio and Roma, who drew the derby, followed in third place. The Milan derby ended in a goalless draw. Below Benevento were already in Serie B, Verona almost. For the remaining place, five teams were battling it out: Udinese, Crotone, Cagliari, Spal and Chievo with the first two having a few points advantage.

Roma qualified for the Champions League semi-finals. They lost the first leg against Barcelona away 4-1 but were able to win 3-0 at home. Juventus were eliminated by Real Madrid. They lost at home 3-0, but had managed a comeback in Madrid and with only seconds to go were 3-0 up. But a last second Cristiano Ronaldo penalty saw Real qualify.

In the semi-final Roma were crushed 5-2 in Liverpool. Trailing 5-0, they managed to score two in the last ten minutes to secure a slither of hope.

Lazio were eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg in the quarter finals of the Europa League. After winning at home 4-2, they collapsed in Austria 4-1.

Juventus 88, Napoli 84, Lazio 70, Roma 70, Inter 66, Atalanta 58, Milan 57, Fiorentina 54, Sampdoria 54, Torino 47, Genoa 41, Bologna 39, Sassuolo 37, Udinese 34, Crotone 34, Cagliari 33, Spal 32, Chievo 31, Verona 25, Benevento 18

May

Juventus went to +6 when they beat Bologna at home and Napoli drew at home with Torino. The scudetto was clinched against Roma at the Olimpico thanks to a draw.

Roma came third securing a Champions League position. The last team to qualify was decided in the last game between Lazio and Inter. The Neroazzurri had to win to secure qualification and did so.

Below with two games to go the table read: Spal 35, Udinese, Crotone, Chievo 34, Cagliari 33. Then in the penultimate game Udinese and Chievo won their games and were almost safe. Cagliari won in Florence, Crotone drew with Lazio and Spal lost in Turin. Udinese and Chievo were on 37 points, Cagliari 36, Crotone and Spal 35. In the last game they all won except Crotone who lost in Naples and were relegated.

Roma did not make it to the final of the Champions League. They managed to beat Liverpool 4-2 but it was not enough.

Juventus also won the Coppa Italia, crushing Milan 4-0 in the final in Rome.

So, Juve, Napoli, Roma and Inter qualified for the Champions League, Lazio, Milan and Atalanta for the Europa League.

Empoli, Parma and Frosinone were promoted to Serie A.

Mauro Icardi (Inter) and Ciro Immobile (Lazio) were top scorers with 29 goals.

Juventus 95, Napoli 91, Roma 77, Inter 72, Lazio 72, Milan 64, Atalanta 60, Fiorentina 57, Torino 54, Sampdoria 54, Sassuolo 43, Genoa 41, Chievo 40, Udinese 40, Bologna 39, Cagliari 39, Spal 38, Crotone 35, Verona 25, Benevento 21

Source

Youtube