Napoli beat Roma and hook Milan at the top. Lautaro drags Inter into third place

It should be made clear: Chivu's team was not brilliant. For a good part of the match was rather the Pisa - very dangerous on at least two occasions with Nzola - to keep under pressure the opponents, a bit 'packed for the Champions League trip. However, when the pace dropped, Inter came out, thanks also to the desire for redemption of its bomber, who is now the league's top scorer (6 goals). With 163 goals, among the Nerazzurri's top scorers, the Argentine has overtaken even a legend like Sandro Mazzola. He is 8 goals away from overtaking Boninsegna now in third place.

Returning to the match, Chivu's changes (Diouf, Bisseck and Pio Esposito) made the difference. Esposito, in particular, was the author, two minutes after his entrance, of a precise support for Lautaro's first goal at the crossbar (69'). The second came in the 83rd minute after a beautiful percussion by Zielenski perfected by Barella: on the rebound the Argentine doubled. In short: a clever and concrete Inter. "As 'bad' as Lautaro can be when he's on the ball.

Milan-Lazio 1-0

Although there has been more talk of the penalty not awarded to Lazio (Pavlovic's elbow not punished for an earlier foul by Lazio's Marusic) than of Milan's 12th useful result, it will be good to start taking measures against this strange creature of Allegri's which, last year, when it was not his, was a sort of gang of the hole, and now travels at a Scudetto pace after having racked up seven 'clean sheets', which for those who don't know are the matches in which the Rossoneri have not conceded a goal.

Let's face it: Milan does not satisfy the refined palate of the aesthetes, those who would like a team that is always dominant and grinds out play and goals. No, the Diavolo defends well, has become cynical when it has to strike, gives a certain impression of solidity, but to impose itself it almost always has to suffer. This was the case with Lazio, where Milan, after letting the guests vent their nerves (another extraordinary save by Maignan on Gila's powerful header), struck at the start of the second half with an all first-goal action finished in the net by Leao, who was also good at inventing himself as a centre forward.

Leaving aside the whole penalty carousel and the white-hot finale (Allegri sent off, Sarri's press silence), the positive aspect for the Rossoneri is that they always come out on top against the big teams (Bologna, Napoli, Roma, Inter, Lazio). On the negative side, Maignan can't always put a patch on them, and from one short face to the next, you can end up bumping your nose on some less favourable episode. Still, a good Milan side that will have to be very careful next Thursday at the Olimpico, where the Rossoneri, by a strange twist of fate, will meet again with Lazio for the Coppa Italia. Sparks are expected. Last notation: for the first time we have seen a drop in Modric. Perhaps letting him rest would do him good. He may be a magnificent 40-year-old, though....

'Mors tua, vita mea', the ancients used to say. In this case, it was Palladino's team, which had not won in the championship since 21 September, that emerged from a crisis into which Fiorentina, last with Verona on 6 points, was sinking more and more. La Dea beat the Viola thanks to goals from Kossounou and Lookman between the end of the first and the beginning of the second half. After some initial skirmishes, the Bergamasks took the game into their own hands, closing every space to the guests' offensive ambitions, who only a quarter of an hour from the end hit a post with Kean.

As against Eintracht in the Champions League, Palladino deployed an attacking trident (De Ketelaere-Scamacca-Lookman) that put the Viola on the ropes, still without a win after 13 matches. There is no light to be seen in this pitiful slump where the whole team, including coach Vanoli, went to apologise under the ultras' curve, with Zdeko on the megaphone to patch up an unlikely truce. How sad! Palladino instead, with his second win in a row, relaunched Atalanta, bringing back confidence and enthusiasm. Sixteen points are still a few. But the ascent has begun.

The glass half-full is that Juve, after Norway, returned to victory by beating Cagliari in a comeback and consolidating their position in view of a demanding triptych (Napoli, Bologna, Roma) that will reveal how much Spalletti is really affecting the group.

The half-empty glass is that the old vices of previous managements were seen. Poor personality, difficulty closing down when you're ahead, little collective reactivity. And thank goodness for Yildiz, who not only equalised immediately after Cagliari's lead, but signed the victory with a second goal almost as a centre forward. The Turk's brace gave Spalletti his second league win, but reaffirmed that he will have to work hard to go up. Also relevant for the future will be Vlahovic's injury, who will probably be out for at least two months. Spalletti seems intent on putting his faith in David and Openda with Yildiz finishing behind him. However, the Serbian's absence will be felt.

With each passing week we ask ourselves: but where is Como going? And every time, underneath it all, we underestimate it, thinking that it is one of those passing anomalies that, along the way, fall into place.

We are all wrong: Fabregas' team, which easily got rid of Sassuolo on Friday (goals from Douvikas and Moreno), is moving inexorably forward in its march towards the top of the table. He is now fourth with 24 points, ahead of Spalletti's Juve (23). Como proceed like a steamroller with a streak of 11 consecutive useful results. Unbeatable at home, the Como team looks towards Europe with the serenity of those who know they have all the cards in order not to set themselves any limits. The problem is that we continue to consider Como a 'provincial' team, as we once did with Chievo, Atalanta, and Sassuolo itself. In reality Como is a multinational with players coming from all over the world. Fabregas himself is Spanish, while the president is the Indonesian Mirwan Suwarso. Owners are the brothers Robert and Michael Hartano, two very rich Indonesian tobacco entrepreneurs with a fortune of 44 billion dollars. Here, this is Como: if we were in the bigs we would start to worry.

The Friulians returned to success after two consecutive defeats. And they did so at the Tardini thanks to a rediscovered Zaniolo who scored the winning goal and a Davis penalty caused by a foul by Troilo. Udinese regained their composure by climbing to 18 points. Parma, at 11, are still precarious while Lecce, overtaking Torino, have overtaken them to reach 13.

The Salentini celebrated by winning three very important points against Torino, who had already been beaten on Monday by Como. For Lecce, Coulibaly and Banda scored in the first half. In the second half, the granata tried to come back but, after Addams' 2-1, Asllani had a penalty saved by Falcone in the first minute of added time. For Marco Baroni's Toro, the moment is difficult. A reaction is needed, but this new setback adds mistrust to mistrust.

Good news for the Grifone, who secured De Rossi's first victory as Genoa coach by beating Verona. A comeback victory after the momentary advantage of the Venetians, which brings a lot of enthusiasm to an environment that had its morale under the heels. The Rossoblù now climb to eleven in the standings, while Hellas are last at six. For Verona, the air becomes heavy.