Napoli and AC Milan face off as Italy licks its World Cup wounds

Napoli and AC Milan will face off on Monday with Serie A leaders Inter Milan in their sights, but the return of domestic football over Easter has been completely overshadowed by the fallout from Italy failing to reach yet another World Cup.

Leading Milan by six points with eight matches remaining in the season, Inter would ordinarily be confident of claiming a 21st league crown ahead of the visit of Champions League chasers Roma on Sunday.

But Napoli and Milan have re-ingnited what had looked to be a dead title race, helped by Inter picking up just two points in their last three matches before a traumatic international break for Italian football fans.

Napoli are a point behind Milan after having won their last four matches following the end of a near season-long injury crisis, but will be without Romelu Lukaku after the Belgium striker incurred the wrath of the reigning champions for staying in his home country for treatment on a hip problem.

But that row, Saturday’s showdown and the title battle all fade into the background when faced with the national team’s latest humiliation, failing to reach a third straight World Cup.

The reaction to Tuesday’s play-off defeat on penalties to Bosnia and Hercegovina has been the same to the previous two that cost Italy a place at the world’s biggest football tournament: rip it up and start again.

Football federation chief Gabriele Gravina was the first to fall on his sword, his resignation coming on Thursday afternoon, two days after saying he would wait a week before making a decision.

He was followed by the national team’s general manager Gianluigi Buffon, with coach Gennaro Gattuso also expected to step down over the coming days.

Now the talk is of how to bring Italian football back to the top table after years of flops from the national team and the slow decline of the country’s top clubs on the European stage.

Inter were the one club that had stayed with the best on the continent but even they have helped contribute to the doom, gloom and despondency after being dumped out of the Champions League by Norwegian minnows Bodo/Glimt.

Cristian Chivu’s team has also become a sort of symbol of Italy’s failure, with defender Alessandro Bastoni being sent off in the first half against Bosnia and academy product Pio Esposito smashing over the first penalty in the shoot-out.

And on Saturday Roma will be hoping to lift a depression of their own by staying in the hunt for a top-four finish.

Knocked out of the Europa League by Bologna and wobbling in Serie A, Roma have an awful record against the division’s top teams and trail fourth-placed Como by just three points.

But with Como at Udinese on a run of five straight wins Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma, sixth and level on 54 points with Juventus, risk falling further off the pace.

 

Lautaro Martinez

Inter’s recent wobble coincided with Martinez’s injury absence but the Argentina striker should start at the San Siro on Sunday night.

Martinez has not played since his muscular problems began in Inter’s home humbling at the hands of Bodo and in the five league matches that Inter have played in that time the Milanese giants have picked up eight points.

The 28-year-old leads the Serie A scoring charts with 14 goals and Inter will be hoping that he can stay fit in the final weeks, while he, unlike Italy, has one eye on the World Cup.

Fixtures (times GMT)

Saturday

Sassuolo v Cagliari (1300), Verona v Fiorentina (1600), Lazio v Parma (1845)

Sunday

Cremonese v Bologna (1300), Pisa v Torino (1600), Inter Milan v Roma (1845)

Monday

Udinese v Como (1030), Lecce v Atalanta (1300), Juventus v Genoa (1600), Napoli v AC Milan (1845)