Favorites are getting slayed in this week of Serie A. Five of the six first-placed teams in the 26th round of the Italian championship dropped points. Only Napoli was successful and because of that, among other things, they are far ahead of all competitors. Inter, Roma and Atalanta lost, Lazio drew and Milan had an ideal opportunity to return to second place. However, in the last match of the 26th round, the champion of Italy won only a point against Salernitana – 1:1 (1:0).0 – Milan will not field any Italian player in the starting line-up in a Serie A match for their first time in the three points for a win era (since 1994/95). News.#MilanSalernitana pic.twitter.com/5xTTjeVruM— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) March 13, 2023 Just when it seemed that they had come out of the crisis by tying four victories in all competitions, Stefano Pioli’s team recorded a third tied game without a triumph, including the Champions League. And although the draw with Tottenham in London cannot be considered as a setback, the defeat by Fiorentina in Florence, and especially the draw with Salernitana at San Siro, definitely are. Because these are teams that were fighting for survival until a few weeks ago.Giroud GOAL pic.twitter.com/tzaQ107dS1— فيــدتـش (@SIRDlV) March 13, 2023 Moreover, Paul Sousa’s men are still not completely safe, although they confirmed that they are on the rise with a point at San Siro. Including this game, the team from Salerno has not lost the last three games, in that period they won five points, so they are currently in 16th position with 26 points, seven more than Verona, the first team below the line. Milan, on the other hand, advanced by one position, jumping from fifth to the desired fourth, but Stefano Pioli will hardly be satisfied, since he could have tied with Inter in second place. Despite allowing Milan 65 percent of the ball in the first half, including 14 shots on goal, only one of them was on targer. However, unfortunately for the guests, that was the shot which gave Milan the lead. At that moment, Olivier Giroud’s supremacy in aerial duels was decided. The Frenchman “inserted himself” between two opposing defenders, put them on his back and beat the Mexian keeper for his third goal of the season.Arsenal kid can spark the Inter – Milan bidding warBut, in the 61st minute, the Senegalese was relentless. Fikayo Tomori was out of breath, he failed to get back in time and see off the attack of Salernitana, Dia was left alone in front of the Milan goal, opened his foot and ‘cooled’ San Siro. It was a sign for Pioli to freshen up the ranks, primarily offensively, he made a triple change and the Rossoneri increased the pressure. Twice they asked for a penalty after disputed situations, in the second they got it, but the chief arbiter changed the decision after consulting the VAR room. Milan’s players were not discouraged by such decisions, they continued with constant attacks and on two occasions were literally a few centimeters away from a new goal. However, as in the World Cup nights, Ochoa once again shone, first cleared Divock Origi’s shot from the goal line in the 76th minute, then Alessandro Florencio’s in the 87th minute, with the great help of Piero Kalulu, who stopped the ball in front of the Salernitana goal.SERIE A – ROUND 26FridaySpezia – Inter 2-1 (0-0)/Maldini 55, Nzola 87 pen – Lukaku 83 pen/SaturdayEmpoli – Udinese 0-1 (0-0)/Rodrigo Becao 54/Napoli – Atalanta 2-0 (0-0)/Kvaratskhelia 60, Rrahmani 77/Bologna – Lazio 0-0SundayLecce – Torino 0-2 (0-2)/Singo 20, Sanabria 23/Cremonese – Fiorentina 0-2 (0-1)/Mandragora 27, Cabral 50/Verona – Monza 1-1 (0-0)/Verdi 51 – Sensi 55/Roma – Sassuolo 3-4 (1-3)/Zalewski 26, Dybala 51, Wijnaldum 90+5 – Lauriente 13, 18, Berardi 45+4 pen, Pinamonti 75/Juventus – Sampdoria 4-2 (2-2)/Bremer 11, Rabiot 26, 64, Soule 90+4 – Augello 31, Djuricic 32/MondayMilan – Salernitana 1-1/Giroud 45+1 – Dia 61/
