After a long hard-fought season, the Italian Serie A will this weekend draw the curtains on the 2018/2019 season.
As it has been for the previous 7 seasons, Juventus have already been pronounced winners in a title race that was never really a race.
Such has been the incompetence of the chasing pack. Even second-placed Napoli have nothing to play for any longer as they hold a 13-point lead over 3rd placed Atalanta going into this weekend’s matches.
The real drama will come from the teams positioned from 3rd to 6th can still get one of the two UEFA Champions League slots available.
Atalanta, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and AS Roma are the teams in contention, and it promises to be a doozy on Sunday afternoon.
Review of Gameweek 37
A lot happened and changed in 90 minutes last weekend which changed the look of the table.
A humdinger of a match went down at the Stadio Friuli as Udinese beat SPAL 3-2 to virtually guarantee their stay in Serie A for another season.
Genoa played out a battling 1-1 draw with Cagliari as Sassuolo held AS Roma to a 0-0 draw, a horrible result for Claudio Ranieri and his Giallorossi side.
It was a similar scoreline in the encounter between Chievo and Sampdoria in a game where the already-relegated Chievo said farewell to club legend, Sergio Pellissier.
Parma beat a struggling Fiorentina side 1-0 while Empoli put paid to Torino’s UCL dreams with a 4-1 thrashing.
Krystof Piatek scored his first goal in a while as AC Milan grabbed a badly needed 2-0 win at home to already relegated Frosinone.
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw by Atalanta in a game that saw Federico Bernardeschi sent-off for La Vecchia Signora.
Napoli surprisingly thrashed Inter Milan 4-1 in the weekend’s star match with the away side only getting a consolation goal through Mario Icardi’s late penalty.
A thriller played out at the Stadio Olimpico in Monday night’s action as SS Lazio were held to a 3-3 draw by Bologna.
The match saw the Biancocelesti come back from being 3-1 down thanks to Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s 80th-minute strike.
What to look forward to in the final round of games
The action for the final weekend of the season starts on Saturday as Frosinone hosts Chievo in the clash of the already-relegated teams.
Then, it will be the turn of Bologna to take on Napoli.
The real drama occurs on Sunday with 8 matches to be played. Torino will take on Lazio at the Stadio Delle Alpi in a match that may determine if Il Toro (The Bull) as Torino is known will make the Europa League next season.
Sampdoria will take on Juventus in a game that will feature two of this season’s top scorers Fabio Quagliarella (26 goals and counting) and Cristiano Ronaldo (21 goals and counting).
Fiorentina is at home to Genoa while AS Roma welcomes Parma to the Stadio Olimpico.
Inter Milan know that a win at home will guarantee them a UCL spot as they play Empoli while city rivals AC Milan are away at SPAL.
Atalanta look set for a first-ever appearance in Europe’s premier competition if they beat Sassuolo at home as Cagliari play Udinese to bring the curtain down on the 2018/2019 Serie A season.
Predictions for Gameweek 38
Frosinone vs Chievo (1X)
Bologna vs Napoli (GG)
Torino vs Lazio (Over 1.5)
Sampdoria vs Juventus (GG)
Fiorentina vs Genoa (1X)
AS Roma vs Parma (Over 1.5)
Inter Milan vs Empoli (Over 1.5)
SPAL vs AC Milan (X2)
Atalanta vs Sassuolo (1)
Cagliari vs Udinese (Over 1.5)