The Tuesday Calcio-Wrap Up #14 🇮🇹⚽️: That's all, folks! The final weekend of Serie A...
Welcome to this week's wrap-up, where I give my thoughts on all the ups, downs and round and rounds from a weekend of Calcio fun.
And that is that. The Serie A 2024/2025 season has now concluded, meaning we now know who has gone down, who is in which European tournament, and most importantly, who is CAMPIONE. First things first, I just want to say - what a season. After back-to-back Scudetto races that have been decided months earlier, we’ve had a season that has gone right down to the wire across the board, giving us a tonne of entertainment, drama and chaos. Ups, downs, lefts, rights and centres all over the place spread out across 38 matches. It’s sad to see the season ending, but it also means a summer of mayhem, with managerial merry-go-rounds and transfer rumours that’ll excite everyone. However, whilst we wait, let’s dive into the last week of calcio chaos…
🏆 Napoli did it! Conte’s masterpiece is complete but what happens next?
The Scudetto race went down to the wire, with both Inter and Napoli playing on Friday night. I did a breakdown of the situation on a different newsletter (read it here), so I won’t go into further detail. However, what I will discuss is what happened after and what happens next. Pretty much straight away, the news circulated that Antonio Conte would leave Napoli. The bus parade along Lungomare had only just been scheduled and Scott McTominay hadn’t (and probably still hasn’t) gone home yet and here we were with a pretty firm confirmation of Antonio Conte departing the club. What is it with managers winning the title at Napoli then leaving straight after?! The rumour is that he is leaving Napoli on the basis of a professional disagreement with Aurelio De Laurentiis, which we all expected. Max Allegri is lined up to take over, too, which is definitely a better move from ADL than appointing another Rudi Garcia. Since the final whistle, it seems players have come out in support for Conte and hope for him to stay. Romelu Lukaku said he’d do everything in his power to keep Conte at Napoli. Is Conte’s relationship with Lukaku strong enough to put up with De Laurentiis AND also turn down his love for Juventus? Time will tell.
🎉 Top four is confirmed: Juventus make it…
Another race that concluded over the weekend was the race for the Champions League. It was mainly between Roma and Juventus on who would get the last place, with Igor Tudor’s side in the driving seat. But it didn’t start off well for the Bianconeri. Within two minutes, they were 1-0 down to Venezia (who were gunning for survival). This was good news for Roma, made even better when they went 1-0 up against Torino via a Leandro Paredes penalty in the 18th minute. Their excitement lasted seven minutes. Kenan Yildiz equalised in the 25th minute for Juventus before Randal Kolo Muani put Juventus in the lead. Juve won 3-2 in the end, thanks to a Manuel Locatelli winner and this gave them that final Champions League spot - a crucial moment in their project, especially financially. What's next for Juventus? Who really knows? As mentioned, Antonio Conte is rumoured to be returning. Cristiano Guintoli’s job is at risk, too. A summer of change is in the offing for Juventus, with plenty of unknowns currently needing to be answered.
Lecce survive, Empoli and Venezia fall
Alongside both the race for the Champions League and the Scudetto race, the relegation battle ran to the last second, too. Venezia were given a glimmer of hope after they went 1-0 up against Juventus but that didn’t last long. Empoli also lost to Fiorentina, relegating both teams. Lecce’s win against Lazio was a special moment. It confirmed their survival in the league but was also against a strong side with 10 men after Santiago Perotti was sent off just before half-time. Cue: bedlam. The bench emptied and Marco Giampaolo was joyous. They were staying up and after a dismal season, it was a huge sigh of relief.