The race for the third and four places in Serie A, and with it, a berth in the UEFA Champions League next season, remain open heading into the final week of the season, thanks to a stellar performance from Napoli.
Playing at home in the Stadio San Paolo, Napoli thrashed Inter Milan, 4-1, to keep Inter in fourth place in the table on 66 points. That’s just one point ahead of AC Milan in fifth place, which jumped up after a 2-0 win over Frosinone, and three points ahead of AS Roma, which succumbed to a scoreless draw with Sassuolo this weekend. Atalanta meanwhile came ten minutes from beating Juventus in Turin, and even with a point in a 1-1 draw, Atalanta is still only in third place by 66 points.
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GOAL ⚽️ Piotr #Zieliński fires a rocket into the top corner 🚀#NAP 1 - 0 #INT#beINSerieA #NapoliInter pic.twitter.com/y8tZHEwOQb
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) May 19, 2019
Piotr Zielinski made a statement with a 30-yard blast past Samir Handanovic in the 16th minute to put Napoli up 1-0 and then Dries Mertens and a pair of goals from Fabian Ruiz gave the Neapolitans a massive lead, while leaving Inter in a precarious position. Mauro Icardi scored late to give Inter a small reprieve, but the defeat was set and it leaves Inter essentially needing to win in the final week of the season to secure a place in the Champions League next year.
Elsewhere, Josip Ilicic scored his 12th league goal of the season as Atalanta took Juventus down to the wire in Juve’s final home match of the season. Juventus fans serenaded Andrea Barzagli, playing his final game for the Bianconeri, and even had a message of support for Daniele De Rossi.
Gianluigi Buffon was even in attendance.
Exactly a year to the day, @gianluigibuffon is back at Allianz Stadium tonight! 😁⚪⚫#JuveAtalanta #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/67eXzB7KxG
— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) May 19, 2019
Also in action in Serie A, Parma beat Fiorentina, 1-0 and Empoli defeated Torino, 4-1.