Translated material
Apathy of Champions
Inter continues to lose
The leader of the Italian championship, Inter, continues to have a bad streak. The Milan club still cannot recover from the blow dealt to them by Liverpool. After the Reds easily knocked Roberto Mancini's team out of the Champions League, the Nerazzurri lost all interest in the season. In the last three matches of Serie A, Inter scored only two points. And if the competitors had been more efficient, the “black and blues” would have lost first place in the standings long ago.It seems that the prospect of winning another Scudetto no longer excites Mancini’s team. She dreamed of European recognition, but again she was forced to be content with only the national title, which was already quite boring. Nothing other than apathy can explain the fact that in the last minute of the most important match of the 31st round in Rome against Lazio, the last Inter defender, Rivas, with the score 1:1, heels the ball past the hosts’ striker.
Milan coach Roberto Mancini looked at such a blatant violation of game discipline without any emotion at all. Even after the defeat to Liverpool, he announced that he would leave the post of head coach, and no assurances from club owner Massimo Moratti about complete trust in the 45-year-old specialist can deceive anyone. In recent days, all of Milan has been abuzz with rumors that the Nerazzurri will be headed by Jose Mourinho in the summer. The Italian press vied with each other to report that the Portuguese specialist arrived in the country on Friday and had already held negotiations with Moratti. Even some details of the conditions under which Mourinho agreed to work at Inter were reported. Allegedly, his salary should be 9 million euros per year, and in addition, the Portuguese would have the right to a decisive vote in determining the transfer policy. Later, Mourinho, who has some kind of preliminary agreement to join Barcelona at the end of this season, denied rumors of negotiations with Inter. “The information about my trip to Italy and negotiations with Inter president Massimo Moratti is not true. By the way, I don’t even know Moratti. I want to emphasize: I did not agree on the terms of the personal contract,” said the ex-Porto and Chelsea coach. But the aftertaste remained, and with this unpleasant feeling of unsaidness, the Nerazzurri will have to finish the championship.
So far, the “black and blue” continue to lead in Serie A by inertia. The pursuing Roma seemed not to want to use the help of their sworn enemies Lazio, and also tied with Cagliari - 1:1. Moreover, Matteo Ferrari scored an own goal in the third minute. But the Romans still have hope. Their competitors still have matches on their calendar where they can give their pursuers a chance. For example, on April 14, Mancini’s team will meet with Fiorentina, which is seriously aiming for a place in the Champions League, and on May 5, Inter has a Milan derby.
Another thing is that Milan has already completely fallen apart. In the last round, the Rossoneri managed to lose to Atalanta without scoring a penalty in the last minutes. The shot from the 11-meter mark was saved by Ferdinando Coppola - the goalkeeper, whose transfer, by the way, belongs to Milan. And now the “red-blacks” are seriously at risk of not catching up with Fiorentina, which is moving ahead of them.
In the world of raging passions of Serie A, only Juventus can feel relatively safe. The “Old Lady” will no longer move up or down from third place, and then Juve can afford to mourn another lost fan. A Parma fan traveling to Turin for his team's away match was hit by a bus carrying Juventus fans, and for this reason the match between the two teams was decided to be postponed.
Results of the matches of the 31st round. Cagliari - Roma - 1:1, Lazio - Inter - 1:1, Catania - Torino - 1:2, Empoli - Sampdoria -- 0:2, "Genoa" -- "Regina" -- 2:0, "Livorno" -- "Siena" -- 0:0, "Milan" -- "Atalanta" -- 1:2, "Udinese" " - Fiorentina - 3:1, Napoli - Palermo - 1:0.
Italian Championship
| 1. Inter | 31 | 20 | 9 | 2 | 57--21 | 69 |
| 2. Roma | 31 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 55--30 | 65 |
| 3. Juventus | 30 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 51--25 | 58 |
| 4. Fiorentina | 31 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 45--32 | 53 |
| 5. Udinese | 31 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 42--39 | 50 |
| 6. Milan | 31 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 45--27 | 49 |
| 7. Sampdoria | 31 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 44--37 | 49 |
| 8. Genoa | 31 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 38--43 | 42 |
| 9. Atalanta | 31 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 46--44 | 41 |
| 10. Napoli | 31 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 41--44 | 40 |
| 11. Lazio | 31 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 37--39 | 38 |
| 12. "Siena" | 31 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 33--38 | 36 |
| 13. "Palermo" | 31 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 39--49 | 36 |
| 14. Torino | 31 | 6 | 16 | 9 | 32--38 | 34 |
| 15. "Parma" | 30 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 35--47 | 29 |
| 16. "Catania" | 31 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 25--38 | 29 |
| 17. Livorno | 31 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 29--45 | 29 |
| 18. Cagliari | 31 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 28--47 | 29 |
| 19. "Regina" | 31 | 5 | 12 | 14 | 27--45 | 27 |
| 20. "Empoli" | 31 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 24--45 | 26 |