Five Things First: Top Stories From Serie A Round 29

Round 29 of the 2019-20 Serie A season saw plenty of goals and plenty of action at either end of the table.

Juventus managed to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table with their win at Genoa, who now sit just a point above the drop zone. Elsewhere, Sampdoria claimed an important win against fellow strugglers Lecce, with wins also for Lazio, Sassuolo, Verona, and Udinese.

But we start at the San Siro, where a rampant-looking Inter hosted bottom-club Brescia:

Inter Hit Brescia for Six

Inter have been free-scoring since the restart, if a little sloppy in defense. But they claimed a solid win over Brescia on Wednesday night and kept a clean sheet for good measure.

Ashley Young scored his second league goal for the club on the night – the first of Inter’s six. Alexis Sanchez then got his second, and Inter’s second, with other goals for Danilo D’Ambrosio, Roberto Gagliardini, Christian Eriksen, and Antonio Candreva.

The win keeps Inter in 3rd-place of the table – four points behind Lazio in 2nd and four ahead of Atalanta in 4th. It was also a good chance for Antonio Conte to have a look at Sandro Tonali – the 20-year-old looked set for a move to Inter at one point, but those talks have seemingly come to a standstill.

Inter entertained their fans with an authentic goal-fest as they found the back of the net six times against Brescia (Photo: via www.inter.it)

Verona Keep Their European Dreams Alive

Verona and Parma have been two of the league’s surprise packages this season, and going into Round 29, they were both level on points.

Both have distant dreams of European football next season, and it was Verona who kept those dreams alive with a competent 3-2 win at home to Parma on Wednesday night.

Samuel Di Carmine, Mattia Zaccagni, and Matteo Pessina all contributed towards the 3-2 win, which leaves Verona in 8th-place of the Serie A table – just three points behind Napoli in 6th.

Dejan Kulusevski is desperate. His great goal against Verona didn’t help Parma which ultimately lost 2-3 to the Scaligeri (Photo: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

Plucky SPAL Settle for a Point Against Milan

Sandwiched in-between Verona and Napoli with very real European dreams of their own is Milan.

Stefano Pioli’s side would’ve been expecting a routine win against the lowly SPAL this week, but in a crazy game of football, they had to settle for a point each.

The home side SPAL were two goals ahead after the half-hour mark – the 38-year-old Sergio Floccari scoring his first Serie A goal of the season with an incredible 30-yard volley over the head of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

But SPAL would have a man sent -off before half-time, which allowed a determined Milan to salvage a point with goals through Rafael Leao, and a desperately unlucky own goal from Francesco Vicari.

Sergio Floccari of SPAL scored a great goal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench reacted like that... (Photo: via https://bolavip.com)
Sergio Floccari of SPAL scored a great goal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench reacted like that… (Photo: via https://bolavip.com)

Atalanta Solidify Their Spot in the Top-Four

Milan’s shortcomings at SPAL would’ve allowed Napoli to further the gap between themselves and the Rossoneri, but Napoli faced a tough opponent in Atalanta.

After a contested first-half, it looked as though the game could go either way. But the free-scoring Atalanta scored two goals in quick succession after half-time through Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens to claim the 2-0 win, and to keep themselves in 4th-place of the Serie A table.

Atalanta continue to be an incredible goal machine. This time they scored “only” 2, bringing their Serie A seasonal tally to 82!

Udinese’s Siege on Rome

Atalanta – Napoli was one of two games last night – Roma hosted Udinese in the other. Roma themselves have high-hopes of European football next season and would’ve been looking to keep the heat on Atalanta with a winnable home tie against Udinese.

But it was Udinese who claimed a comfortable 2-0 win in the capital – Kevin Lasagna opened the scoring with his third goal in two games, before Diego Perotti was sent-off in the first-half for Roma.

Roma then had their backs against the wall, and eventually fell two goals behind when Ilija Nestorovski scored just his second Serie A goal of the season late on. The win for Udinese allowed Atalanta to open up a 12-point lead over 5th-place Roma, who remain three points ahead of Napoli.

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Feature Photo: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images