The 2019-20 season was going one way and then changed completely because of Covid. More substitutions and games every three days gave an advantage to teams with greater depth .The main victim of these changes were Lazio who dropped, from one point behind Juventus before lockdown, to fourth place at the end of the competition. Lazio were under great scrutiny during lockdown and were unable to train whereas other teams managed to do so in secret. Juventus won their 9th consecutive title, Napoli the Coppa Italia and Lazio the Super Coppa. In Europe the only team to do well were Inter who were beaten in the final of the Europa League by Sevilla.
Transfers and new managers
Many new managers for the top teams: Maurizio Sarri for Juventus, Paulo Fonseca for Roma, Antonio Conte for Inter and Marco Giampaolo for Milan.
Juventus invested a lot of money for defender Matthijs De Licht and Inter even more for Romelu Lukaku. The other teams did not make big signings but some new names were Luis Muriel to Atalanta, Theo Hernandez and Leao to Milan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Roma and Manuel Lazzari to Lazio. Juve were obviously hot favourites to win the scudetto but Inter could cause them some headaches. Further back Napoli, Lazio and Roma. Atalanta could be an outsider, it depended on how they would cope having to play the Champions League.
August & September
One game in August and five in September. In the first two big games the Rome derby was drawn 1-1 and Juventus beat Napoli in an extraordinary match. Down 3-0 after an hour, the Azzurri came back and managed to equalise only to then lose to an own goal in injury time. Inter won the Milan derby and also beat Lazio. Atalanta won against Roma. Inter on top, terrible start for Milan.
In Champions League Atalanta collapsed 4-0 in their first ever game in the competition, Juventus drew in Madrid against Atletico, Napoli beat Liverpool and Inter drew against Slavia Prague. Lazio had a bad start in Europa League, Roma won. Torino had been eliminated in the play-off round by Wolverhampton Wanderers
Table so far: Inter, 18, Juventus 16, Atalanta 13, Napoli 12, Roma 11, Cagliari 10, Lazio 10, Parma 9, Torino 9, Bologna 8, Fiorentina 8, Udinese 7, Brescia 6, Lecce 6, Milan 6, Sassuolo 6, Verona 6, Genoa 5, Sampdoria 3, Spal 3.
October
Four games in October. Juventus won in Milan against Inter and went top of the table. Lazio, down 0-3 vs Atalanta at the end of the first half, managed to draw and won three games in a row afterwards. Milan sacked Giampaolo after the seventh game and surprisingly replaced him with Stefano Pioli.
In CL Atalanta lost the next two games too and were virtually out of the competition, Juventus won their two games and could look to the future with optimism as could Napoli. It would be a struggle for Inter though, as for Lazio in EL. Roma kept battling on.
Juventus 26, Inter 25, Atalanta 21, Roma 19, Napoli 18, Cagliari 18, Lazio 18, Fiorentina 15, Parma 13, Milan 13, Bologna 12, Verona 12, Torino 11, Udinese 10, Lecce 9, Sassuolo 9, Genoa 8, Brescia 7, Spal 7, Sampdoria 5 (Sassuolo and Brescia one game in hand)
November
Three games in November. Juventus won the derby, beat Milan and Atalanta but the draw against Sassuolo cost them the top spot.. Lazio won in Milan for the first time in the league since 1989 and now had five consecutive wins. Roma beat Napoli who were falling back, Milan were showing limited signs of improvement. Good season so far for Cagliari with potential Champions League qualification chances.. Lots of teams involved in the relegation battle.
In CL Atalanta amazingly had a chance to go through due to the collapse of the other teams in the group, Juventus had secured top spot in theirs, Napoli were second but had a chance to go top if they beat Liverpool in Anfield, Inter had to beat Barcelona at home in the last game to go to the next round otherwise they would be relegated to the Europa League where they might join Roma, who had to battle it out with Borussia Monchengladbach but not Lazio, eliminated.
Inter 37, Juventus 36, Lazio 30, Roma 28, Cagliari 28, Atalanta 25, Napoli 20, Parma 18, Verona 18, Milan 17, Torino 17, Fiorentina 16, Bologna 16, Udinese 14, Lecce 14, Sassuolo 14, Sampdoria 12, Genoa 10, Spal 9, Brescia 7 (Sassuolo and Brescia one game in hand).
December
4 games in December. Lazio continued winning and even beat Juventus plus a spectacular comeback at Cagliari scoring two goals in injury time. Inter and Roma drew and Atalanta crushed Milan 5-0 in one of the Rossoneri’s most humiliating defeats. Napoli sacked Ancelotti and called in Gennaro Gattuso. Nine teams were involved in the relegation battle.
In CL, Atalanta, Juventus and Napoli went through, Inter were relegated to Europa League where they joined Roma.
The Super Coppa was held just before Christmas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Lazio dominated Juventus and won 3-1.
Inter 42, Juventus 42, Lazio 36, Roma 35, Atalanta 31, Cagliari 29, Parma 25, Napoli 24, Bologna 22, Milan 21, Torino 21, Verona 19, Sassuolo 19, Udinese 18, Fiorentina 17, Lecce 15, Sampdoria 15, Brescia 14, Spal 12, Genoa 11 (Lazio and Verona one game in hand)
January
Four games in January. Lazio’s winning streak stopped at 11 after drawing the derby. Inter won against Napoli who also lost to Lazio. Juventus beat Roma away but lost to Napoli. Inter slowed down following three consecutive draws and the Bianconeri went ahead. Milan signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
No real surprises in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia. In the quarterfinals Napoli, Inter, Milan and Juventus had the better of Lazio, Fiorentina, Torino and Roma.
Juventus 51, Inter 48, Lazio 46, Roma 39, Atalanta 38, Cagliari 31, Parma 31, Milan 31, Verona 29, Napoli 27, Bologna 27, Torino 27, Fiorentina 25, Udinese 24, Sassuolo 23, Sampdoria 20, Lecce 19, Brescia 15, Spal 15, Genoa 15 (Lazio and Verona one game in hand).
February & March
All football was stopped in early March due to Covid and the subsequent lockdown. In February Lazio had closed the gap after beating Inter in a 5 match winning streak and were even top for a week. But then Juventus beat Inter and went +1. The Nerazzurri won the derby and Atalanta beat Roma. Cagliari collapsed, Napoli and Milan seemed to have resolved their problems. Genoa were closing the gap, Spal and Brescia looked doomed.
In the Champions League, Atalanta were the only Italian team to go through to the quarterfinals after eliminating Valencia. Juventus and Napoli lost to Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona. In the Europa League, Inter and Rome qualified for the quarter finals.
Only the first legs of the Coppa Italia were played. Inter lost at home to Napoli and Milan and Juventus drew.
Juventus 63, Lazio 62, Inter 54, Atalanta 48, Roma 45, Napoli 39, Milan 36, Parma 35, Verona 35, Bologna 34, Cagliari 32, Sassuolo 32, Fiorentina 30, Udinese 28, Torino 27, Sampdoria 26, Lecce 25, Genoa 25, Spal 18, Brescia 16 (Inter, Atalanta, Sassuolo, Sampdoria, Parma, Torino, Verona and Cagliari one game in hand).
June
Serie A returned and was a whole new ballgame. Five substitutions instead of three and games every three days until August, all behind closed doors. The campionato was preceded by the return matches of Coppa Italia and the final. Juventus and Napoli eliminated Milan and Inter first and then played between themselves. Napoli won on penalties after a goalless draw.
Serie A first started with the games that had not been played due to Covid in February and March. This meant that a number of teams were able to get minutes in their legs before Serie A started.
Two games played. Atalanta beat Lazio in the opener and Milan crushed Roma. Juventus has therefore taken a good lead.
Juventus 69, Lazio 65, Inter 61, Atalanta 57, Roma 48, Napoli 45, Milan 42, Parma 39, Verona 39, Cagliari 38, Bologna 37, Sassuolo 34, Fiorentina 31, Torino 31, Udinese 28, Sampdoria 26, Genoa 26, Lecce 25, Spal 18, Brescia 18
July
9 games in July. Juventus became Champions with two games to go (and once they reached their goal they lost the other games), Inter, Atalanta and Lazio in Champions League, Roma, Milan and Napoli in Europa League. Lazio collapsed so allowed the other two teams to overtake them. Juventus won the derby and beat Lazio but lost to Milan and drew with Atalanta who beat Napoli and drew against Milan. Inter drew against Roma but beat Napoli. Spal and Brescia in Serie B, the last game was to see who would join them between Genoa and Lecce.
Juventus 83, Inter 79, Atalanta 78, Lazio 78, Roma 67, Milan 63, Napoli 59, Sassuolo 51, Verona 49, Parma 46, Bologna 46, Fiorentina 46, Cagliari 45, Udinese 42, Torino 39, Sampdoria 41, Genoa 36, Lecce 35, Brescia 24, Spal 20
August
In the last game of the season Roma won in Turin against Juventus, Inter at Bergamo and Napoli beat Lazio. Genoa won, so Lecce were the third team to go down to Serie B. They were replaced by Benevento, Crotone and Spezia who beat Frosinone in the playoff finals.
Ciro Immobile was top scorer with a record of 36 goals, equalling the one set by Gonzalo Higuain.
Final table: Juventus 83, Inter 82, Atalanta 78, Lazio 78, Roma 70, Milan 66, Napoli 62, Sassuolo 51, Verona 49, Fiorentina 49, Parma 49, Bologna 47, Udinese 45, Cagliari 45, Sampdoria 42, Torino 40, Genoa 39, Lecce 35, Brescia 25, Spal 20
In Europe, the last 16 rounds that had not been completed were played in single matches in Lisbon. Atalanta narrowly lost their clash with Paris Saint-Germain and the Champions League was eventually won by Bayern Munich. In the Europa League Roma got eliminated by Sevilla and Inter first beat Getafe, then Bayern Leverkusen and Shakhtar Donetsk but in the final the Nerazzurri lost to Sevilla 3-2.
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