Inter and Roma on top, Napoli sinks. Conte hisses: 'I don't want to accompany a dead man'

Bologna-Napoli 2-0. What a beastly Sunday for the partenopei! True, the hosts churned out a super performance, for almost 90 minutes (goals from Dallinga and Lucumi), but for the Italian champions the blow was really heavy. Never in the match, never responsive, never a shot on goal, in a word: unrecognisable. A depressed Napoli, without grit, who had two days more rest than Bologna. Also worrying was Conte's comment, who, in a certain way, distanced himself from his own team: 'They were more reactive, with an energy that we didn't have... A Napoli with no alchemy. I can't make myself understood, I'm sorry...I don't want to accompany a dead ....," Conte repeats ungenerously.

Bologna, with its tenth useful result in a row, conquers fifth place (21 points), becoming the new 'case' of a championship so far without masters. Certainly its coach, Vincenzo Italiano, much underestimated by our football gurus, is doing an extraordinary job, equal perhaps to what Gasperini did with Atalanta.

With one detail to underline: every year, Bologna sells off the best pieces to reinvent a competitive team that does not bring holes in the budget. Which is almost unbelievable in a football where squandering is an established vice. Last detail: from the fifth minute Bologna played with a 17-year-old in goal, Massimo Pessina, European champion in 2024. In a few years time, in the bars of Bologna, someone will say: 'Just think, we once managed to beat the Italian champions with a young boy defending the goal...'.

Parma-Milan 2-2. Mah, what can I say? Can a team that aspires to the Scudetto, already leading by two goals after 25 minutes, get reeled in like that? And again: where's the crack? Could it be that Milan had already given up in the first half? More than a physical problem, it seems to be a mental deficit, a sort of neurological lightness that prevents this Milan team from becoming adults, from taking off these incomprehensible up&downs of strange madness. It all started with Parma's 2-1, almost at the end of the first half, where a soft Estupinan, letting himself take the ball away from Britschgi, opened the hole from which Bernabé's strike would start. True, in the end, after risking 3-2, Milan could have won if Pulisc had not wasted the overtaking ball, but by then the omelette had already been made. However: to leave seven points on the road with Cremonese, Pisa and Parma is a big blow that Milan will pay dearly for.

Atalanta-Sassuolo 0-3. AAASassuolo 0-3. Instead it's all true: Sassuolo, in Bergamo, overwhelms Atalanta with a very severe 3-0 that unleashes the angry reaction of the Dea fans in a mix of ironic chants and unreferable slogans. Sassuolo, with a brace from Berardi and a goal from Pinamonti, did what they wanted, almost marauding with an opponent who had only won twice in eleven matches so far. Juric's bench, despite the victory in Europe with Marseille, is increasingly hot. Such a disappointing start has not been seen for at least a decade. For Sassuolo, on the other hand, now on 16 points and their fourth away win, it is a magical moment.

Genoa-Fiorentina 2-2. It's not an ugly draw but one that serves no one. In De Rossi and Vanoli's debut match, little or nothing changed in the end. Genoa put away a little point that only moved the classification. Fiorentina, good in recovering the initial advantage of the red-blue with the penalty of the ex Gudmundsson, goes ahead with the doubling of Piccoli but is taken back (2-2 by Colombo) in a disconcerting way. The Viola, also deprived of Kean, still remain in last place with 5 points. Going up again will be difficult but not impossible.

Juventus-Torino 0-0. "What a beard, what a bore" would have said Sandra Mondaini to Raimondo Vianello. A so-so derby, very grey, where the parades of Di Gregorio and Paleari decide. There is not much to say about Juve. It slammed against Toro's wall, but left that impression of an unfinished team that it had also with Tudor. The game perhaps grows, but it always struggles to score. Toro, on the other hand, were granitic and determined, but even Vanoli did not go beyond zero to zero. For Spalletti it is the second draw in three games. He has an extenuating circumstance: that Juventus' historical troubles are not cured in a fortnight. Luciano's gamble was to say he can think about the Scudetto. At the moment you wouldn't say that, but in this championship, where almost nobody shines, everything is reviewable.

Como-Cagliari 0-0. Nothing to do for Fabregas' team. Cagliari, thanks also to the splendid saves of Caprile, raised an impenetrable wall on which the Larians did not break through despite the inventions of Paz. Morata ate at least three goals and Como, in its fifth draw in seven games, slowed down its march towards Europe.

Lecce-Verona 0-0. Not one of those challenges that will go down in history. A faded zero-zero that did not ignite sparks but gave no one any worries. Lecce would have deserved more, but scoring is not their forte. Verona fought, put their heart and face into it. But eleven games without a win is a lot.

Pisa-Cremonese 1-0. A great celebration for the Tuscans who, thanks to a header goal by Touré, achieved their first victory in the championship, very important in terms of salvation. Gilardino's team, cornered in the first half, thanks to their coach's changes, took back by the hair a game that was getting out of hand. Cremonese were very naive, more technically gifted, but incapable of realising their superiority.