Juventus had won the scudetto the previous season with a two-point lead over Napoli. Roma had arrived third and Lazio fourth.
For the 1975-76 season Juve were the obvious favourites but Napoli had made a major coup in the transfer window signing Beppe Savoldi from Bologna, one of the best centre forwards in the country. Torino had changed manager and given the team to Gigi Radice as did Lazio who chose Giulio Corsini to replace Tommaso Maestrelli who was fighting cancer.
August & September
Coppa Italia started in August and there was a decision not to have a seeding system. Hence it was an interesting first group round where Inter qualified ahead of Juventus, who lost to the Nerazzurri. Other qualifiers were Genoa, Napoli, Lazio, Milan, Sampdoria and Verona. They would be joined by holders Fiorentina in a second group phase to be held in May.
In the first leg of the first round of the European Cup Juventus won away against CSKA Sofia. In the first round of the Cup Winners Cup Fiorentina crushed Besiktas 3-0. In the UEFA Cup, Milan drew 0-0 with Everton away, Lazio lost 1-0 to Chornomorets Odessa also away, Roma beat Dunav Ruse 2-0 at home and Napoli were thrashed 4-1 by Torpedo Moscow.
October
Just three games were played in October with Juventus and Napoli taking the lead.
In the second leg of the first round of the European Cup Juventus beat CSKA Sofia at home too and proceeded to round 2 where they faced Borussia Mönchengladbach and lost 2-0 away. In the Cup Winners Cup Fiorentina won again 3-0 against Besiktas, this time away from home. In the first leg of the second round, they beat Sachsenring Zwickau 1-0 at home. In the UEFA Cup Milan beat Everton and went through, just like Lazio, who won 3-0 after extra time against Chornomorets Odessa and Roma despite losing 1-0 to Dunav Ruse. Napoli drew at home 1-1 with Torpedo Moscow and were eliminated. In the first leg of the second round, Milan drew 0-0 away to Athlone Town and Roma lost 1-0 to Oster.
Lazio were to face Barcelona but strong internal political pressure caused the Biancocelesti not to turn up for the game as a protest against the General Franco regime (not understanding that Barcelona was one of the anti-Franco bastions) Lazio hence lost 3-0.
Juventus 5, Napoli 5, Ascoli 4, Inter 4, Milan 4, Torino 3, Roma 3, Bologna 3, Cesena 3, Lazio 3, Perugia 3, Cagliari 2, Sampdoria 2, Verona 2, Como 1, Fiorentina 1
November
Juventus continued to lead and in November beat Milan away as did Napoli at home. The Rome derby ended in a draw. At the end of November Lazio manager Corsini, who had never got on with the old guard, was fired and replaced by Maestrelli who had seemingly won his cancer battle.
Juventus were eliminated from the European Cup. They had gone 2-0 up at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach but then the Germans managed to equalise. Fiorentina were also eliminated. In the Second leg of the Cup Winners cup, they were eliminated by Sachsenring Zwickau on penalties. In the UEFA Cup Milan crushed Athlone Town 3-0 and went through to the third round as did Roma who beat Oster 2-0. Lazio lost 4-0 in Barcelona and were eliminated. In the third round Roma lost 1-0 away to Club Brugge and Milan beat Spartak Moscow 4-0 at home.
Juventus 12, Napoli 11, Torino 9, Cesena 8, Bologna 8, Inter 8, Milan 7, Roma 7, Ascoli 7, Perugia 6, Verona 6, Sampdoria 6, Como 5, Lazio 5, Fiorentina 4, Cagliari 3
December
Napoli won in Rome against Lazio and went top due to Torino's win in the derby. But their solitary lead did not last long since they then drew at home with Ascoli and were caught up by Juve who beat Inter. In the last game of the year, Napoli lost against Inter and Torino moved up to second place.
In the UEFA Cup third round second leg, Roma lost at home to Club Brugge and were eliminated. Milan instead went through to the quarter finals despite losing 2-0 away to Spartak Moscow.
Juventus 16, Torino 15, Napoli 14, Cesena 13, Bologna 12, Milan 11, Roma 11, Inter 10, Perugia 9, Ascoli 9, Fiorentina 8, Lazio 8, Sampdoria 8, Verona 7, Como 5, Cagliari 3
January
Juve went +2 on Torino, taking advantage of the Granata’s draw in Cagliari. Napoli lost further ground after losing to Juve and a couple of draws. They were caught up by surprise Cesena, who thanks to former Lazio scudetto heroes Mario Frustalupi and Giancarlo Oddi were doing very well. The Biancocelesti on the other hand were in a tough spot.
Juventus 24, Torino 22, Napoli 18, Cesena 18, Milan 17, Inter 16, Bologna 16, Perugia 14, Fiorentina 13, Roma 12, Verona 11, Ascoli 11, Sampdoria 10, Lazio 9, Como 7, Cagliari 6
February
Juventus went +5 on Torino who lost away to Perugia and Inter. The Milanese clubs moved up to third and fourth places. Cagliari and Como lost ground behind as did Lazio who with a couple of wins moved to less dangerous waters.
Juventus 32, Torino 27, Milan 26, Inter 24, Napoli 23, Cesena 22, Roma 20, Bologna 20, Fiorentina 19, Perugia 19, Lazio 14, Verona 14, Ascoli 14, Sampdoria 13, Como 9, Cagliari 8
March
Juve lost both to Cesena and the derby, so Torino were now within one point of the leaders followed very closely by Milan. The Rome derby ended in a draw, Milan beat Inter consolidating third place.
The Rossoneri were eliminated 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup. They had lost 2-0 away, recovered the deficit at home but then a Brugge goal 16 minutes from time gave the qualification to the Belgians.
Juventus 35, Torino 34, Milan 32, Napoli 28, Inter 28, Cesena 26, Bologna 25, Perugia 24, Fiorentina 22, Roma 22, Lazio 17, Verona 17, Ascoli 17, Sampdoria 16, Como 13, Cagliari 12
April
In the Turin-Milan ties, Torino beat Milan and Inter defeated Juve so the Granata went top and then increased the lead to two points following the Juve draw in Naples and the Torino 4-3 victory against Fiorentina. Lazio were sucked back down without Giorgio Chinaglia who left to join New York Cosmos. The relegation battle involved five teams since Cagliari were already virtually in Serie B.
Torino 41, Juventus 39, Milan 36, Napoli 32, Inter 32, Bologna 31, Cesena 29, Perugia 28, Fiorentina 24, Roma 24, Verona 22, Ascoli 21, Lazio 20, Sampdoria 20, Como 18, Cagliari 15
May
In the scudetto fight, Torino in the penultimate game drew at Verona and Juve beat Sampdoria so now, with one game left, the Granata had a single point lead. They needed to beat Cesena while Juventus had to face Perugia. After the first half the two games were still goalless but then a Renato Curi goal for Perugia gave Torino their first scudetto since the Superga tragedy.
As far as the relation battle was concerned, with two games to the end Sampdoria and Verona were on 22 points, Ascoli on 21, Como and Lazio on 20. But in the penultimate game the Biancocelesti thrashed Milan 4-0, Como lost at Cesena, Samp were beaten by Juve and Ascoli drew with Bologna. Now Lazio (goal difference -5), Sampdoria (-12) and Ascoli (-15) were on 22 points, Como on 20. Last games: Como-Lazio, Roma-Ascoli, Sampdoria-Napoli. The goal difference would be fundamental.
After 17 minutes Lazio were in Serie B. Trailing 2-0, that would have been the end, but they scored in the 20th minute so a draw was still possible. At the end of the first 45 minutes Ascoli were winning in Rome and Sampdoria were also 1-0 up. The table read Samp 24 and Ascoli 24, Lazio and Como 22. But in the second half both Roman teams scored and Lazio were safe. One final miracle by Tommaso Maestrelli.
In Coppa Italia, the eight qualified teams were divided into two groups of 4. In Group A Verona came first on goal difference ahead of Inter, Lazio and Genoa. In the second group Napoli came top ahead of Fiorentina, Milan and Sampdoria. In the final played at the Olimpico, Napoli thrashed Verona 4-0 and won the cup.
Torino would be playing in the European Cup next season, Napoli in the Cup Winners Cup, Juventus, Milan, Inter and surprise Cesena in the UEFA Cup.
Ascoli, Como and Cagliari were relegated, Genoa, Catanzaro and Foggia were promoted.
Paolo Pulici (Torino) was top scorer with 21 goals
Final table: Torino 45, Juventus 43, Milan 38, Inter 37, Napoli 36, Cesena 32, Bologna 32, Perugia 31, Fiorentina 27, Roma 25, Verona 24, Sampdoria 24, Lazio 23, Ascoli 23, Como 21, Cagliari 19
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