I got drenched on Saturday evening. It was only a short walk from the train to the car but such was the relentless rain, it took me a while to dry out.
Of course, it was half expected – partly because of the forecast and partly because of where I live and that it’s late October.
What I was not expecting when covering another compelling Serie A weekend was that a meeting between two of last season’s top four would be postponed – due to flooding!
That was the situation which faced Bologna and AC Milan on Saturday, an encounter called off due to recent flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region.
In anticipation of the game being played at an alternative venue, Milan reportedly made arrangements including hotels and travel in four different cities, namely Bologna, Como, Verona and Empoli.
The clubs, along with the Lega Serie A, had reportedly explored options to play the game at a neural venue too, possibly behind closed doors.
However, the game was eventually called off and both clubs will now have a game in hand for more than three months.
While there was much talk about the game that wasn’t, there were plenty of talking points in the games that did go ahead.
Not least the highest scorers of the week as Europa League winners Atalanta hit Verona for six
Mateo Retegui and Ademola Lookman netted two each as La Dea, frustrated by Celtic in a goalless in the Champions League in midweek, brought their shooting boots to the party to celebrate the 400th game for manager Gian Piero Gasperini – someone who has earned himself a place in the club folklore.
In netting a brace, Retegui also became the third Italian player to score at least nine goals (he has 10) in his first nine matches for a Serie A club since three points were awarded for a league win.
By doing so, he joined a group composed of Fiorentina’s Luca Toni and Sampdoria’s Vincenzo Montella, who scored 11 and nine goals in their opening nine games for their clubs, respectively.
Atalanta are in fourth spot after making a steady start to the campaign but there’s no change at the summit after Antonio Conte’s Napoli continued their string of fine results.
They were frustrated by strugglers Lecce whose resolute defending threatened to earn them a point until Giovanni Di Lorenzo intervened.
Di Lorenzo, who had a goal disallowed in the first half, broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute when he tapped home after goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone fumbled Scott McTominay’s header.
It’s Milan next for Napoli on Tuesday night in a match-up between the 2022 and 2023 champions.
A word also for two spirited teams who shared four goals.
Monza twice fought back to grab a 2-2 draw at home with newly promoted Venezia, even after ending the game with 10 men following Warren Bondo’s dismissal.
They may be 16th and 19th respectively and battling at the wrong end, as expected, but both sides deserve top marks for attitude and approach.
There was no doubting what was the big match of the weekend in the Italian top flight as champions Inter Milan hosted Juventus on Sunday teatime
Simone Inzaghi’s men began the day in second place, one point and one place ahead of Juventus in the Derby d’Italia.
My colleague suggested this would be a gritty affair and a close one and I agreed.
The SBOTOP Serie A betting odds backed Inter to deliver Serie A highlights and so did I.
What I didn’t expect was five goals in the opening 37 minutes or even close to the thriller that followed.
A 15th minute penalty from Piotr Zielinski, in the absence of the influential Hakan Calhanoglu, fired the champs in front but the visitors, showed an impressive resistance and character to be in front 10 minutes later.
First, Dusan Vlahovic coolly side-footed home on the bounce, then great work by Francisco Conceicao allowed Timothy Weah to convert from close range.
The response was one of champions as the pendulum swung once more.
This time it was Inter’s way as Henrikh Mkhitaryan played a one-two with Marcus Thuram and fired through a sea of legs into the far bottom corner before Denzel Dumfries was fouled in the box almost immediately and Zielinski was again the man from the spot.
When the Dutchman drilled home eight minutes after the restart to put Inter 4-2 ahead, I thought it was game over. How wrong I was.
An angled drive from substitute Kenan Yildiz, 10 minutes after entering the fray, gave Juve hope when they were second best.
There was more to come and, after the impressive Conceicao stood up a cross, Yildiz has time to take the first touch, control and sweep through another sea of legs for 4-4.
It was breathless, one of the most thrilling Derby d’Italias, you are every likely to see. Napoli, now four points clear, didn’t mind either.
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