Having been confirmed as the Serie A champions, Inter are the only side in the competition at no risk of missing out on the UEFA Champions League next season. There continues to be a heated battle among Juventus, Milan, Napoli, Atalanta, and Lazio for the remaining three spots, which makes the Italian top-flight possibly the most exciting to watch in the final days of the domestic seasons.
Missing out on the spots will perhaps be the most disappointing for Juventus, who had been on a nine-season Scudetto streak. Milan come a close second in that department, who had everything going to plan till the end of last year, after which they slipped up from their first spot.
Lazio looked in a comfortable position to book their spot before losing out to Fiorentina on matchday 34, after which they trail the pack by a minimum of 4 points. Atalanta, Juventus, and Milan sit on 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively, with 69 points each, just separated by goal difference. All three of them have played a game less than Napoli, who sit at 2nd with 70 points. Atalanta and either Milan or Juventus have the chance to overtake Gattuso’s side on matchday 35 with a win.
With Napoli and Atalanta finding form at this latter stage of the competition, the race for three remaining spots has become even more gripping. Napoli have just lost twice in their last 14 fixtures, while Gasperini’s side losing only once in the same number of games.
Napoli’s next 3 matches are up against Udinese, Fiorentina and Hellas Verona. They would be expected to get the nine points comfortably from this stage. However, Atalanta will be facing Milan on the final matchday, which is another big addition to the exciting battle between the sides.
Proceedings could be tense for Juventus as well as Milan since after facing each other, they have fixtures against Inter and Atalanta, respectively, which is a feasible recipe for probable dropped points.
