Serie A Takeaways: Three things we learned from Matchday 31

Roma put Bologna to the sword for the second time this season, keeping pace with Juventus at the top in the process - but what else went down around Serie A?

Our columnist takes a closer look...

The final match was the tastiest... until it wasn’t

With Roma having done their part earlier in the day, Napoli’s late visit to the capital city against Lazio to close off the matchday instantly became one of the most intriguing matchups left in the league. Were the home side to win, Roma would have had a seven-point cushion below them that would have nearly assured that the club would not finish in the Champions’ League play-off spot.

It would have meant that Lazio would have been just one point behind Mauricio Sarri’s side in the hunt for the final Champions’ League place. It would have meant, for the first time all season, that instead of looking up, Napoli would’ve felt a breath dangerously close to their neck.

Of course, none of that happened, as the visitors sauntered to a 3-0 win over the home side, playing their trademark dazzling football in the process. It means that the top three are all but surely set; the same as last year, as we’ve suspected for much of the season.

The only question now is: in what order will they finish?

The nonexistent relegation race somehow became real

The battle to avoid the bottom three, however, has suddenly sprung into life in surprising fashion. Crotone pulled off one of the upsets of the season by defeating Inter 2-1 at home – a result that left Stefano Pioli’s men looking rocked.

Diego Falcinelli chipped a sensation finish beyond Samir Handanovic in the 18th minute, leaving the visitors stunned, and a Gary Medel handball four minutes later let the Italian double his tally (no mean feat against the league’s best penalty stopper). Inter pulled one back in the second half but it wasn’t enough – not enough to prevent the side from slipping down the table, now to seventh, with Milan leapfrogging them.

Not enough to close the book on the relegation race, which oddly looked over months ago. Not enough to prevent Crotone from winning their second game in a row – they had just three before Matchday 30 - and putting the side within a finger’s touch of safety.

Empoli – who looked all season like they were bad, but not terrible enough to go down – are inching towards the latter. They’re just three points above the drop and still have to play Milan and Fiorentina; they may just be hoping it comes down to the final match of the season, where they can, ideally, defeat an already-relegated Palermo to ensure their top-flight status.

Crotone, meanwhile, have to find one more win than the side above them in a difficult run that includes battles against Milan, Torino, Juventus, and Lazio.

Say it quietly, but Serie A had a rather routine week

Boring might be too much of a stretch, but besides Crotone-Inter, no matchup truly lived up to the billing and few offered any kind of drama. This season has been full of last minute goals that changed outcomes, but here they were minor; Napoli and Juventus added to their leads with less than ten minutes to go, Palermo had a sending off that just rubbed a bitter aftertaste to an already sour 4-0 loss. Cagliari managed to make the game seem close after a late goal to leave the score 2-3 against Torino, but they were 3-1 down and had an opposition sending-off to thank for that.

Only Sampdoria-Fiorentina was worth sticking around for; Khouma Babacar’s last gasp strike in the final minute of regulation time allowed the visitors to grab a draw, and allowed Paulo Sousa to declare that Fiorentina had never set a goal of Europe this season.

With just seven matches to go, let’s hope few sides show as little ambition.