Serie A weekend round-up: Late goals save European chasers

Here's a round-up of the big talking points from Serie A's matchday 24, with two games still to play across Monday evening. 

Late, late shows 

With Milan not in action this weekend, attention turned back to champions Napoli, and whether or not they've got what it takes to catch Inter in this season's title race, and for most of Saturday afternoon, it looked unlikely. 

Antonio Conte's side were once again unconvincing away from Naples, needing the former Manchester United duo of Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund to bail them out after falling behind against Genoa. 

Down to 10 men, Hojlund's 95th-minute penalty saw Napoli prevail and kept any faint hopes they have of catching the runaway leaders alive for another week - but they are slowly running out of time. 

Over in Turin, Juventus' aim is more of a Champions League finish, but they also needed a stoppage-time goal to salvage a point against Lazio. 

Pierer Kululu's goal saw the Old Lady draw 2-2 against Mauricio Sarri's men, and sees them cling onto fourth spot. 

It seems that while Inter are cruising to victory, every other team around them are scrapping for points just to get near them.

 

Inter unstoppable 

Talking of the leaders, they didn't just cruise past Sassuolo on Sunday; they demolished the home side with a 5-0 thrashing that felt massively ominous for the rest of the league. 

For so long in the first half of the season, we thought we'd be treated to the tightest of title races, but with Cristian Chivu's men now eight points clear, the championship is in clear danger of being settled way before we even get into Spring. 

That's 12 games unbeaten for the Nerazzurri, and they have both the league's top scorer in Lautaro Martinez, who was on the scoresheet again, and Serie'a A's best creator. Federico Dimarco was on hand to assist three of the goals in this thumping, taking his season tally up to 11. 

It would take a brave person to back anyone other than Inter right now. 

Bologna's breakdown continues 

Frustrations continue to rage with Bologna, whose wretched run of form continued this weekend as they lost at home to strugglers Parma. 

It's now just one win in 2026 for Vincenzo Italiano and his team, with this defeat their fourth loss on the bounce. It's a run that's seen them fall away from both early title disruptors and European contenders, and it's putting huge pressure on the manager. 

Serie A Sackings seem to have come in clusters this season, and with Pisa and Verona recently pulling the trigger on change, could Bologna be the next club to post a new vacancy? Right now, it is perhaps only the upcoming Coppa Italia quarter-final keeping Italiano's job safe. 

(C)Getty images

Results from Serie A matchday 24

Friday, February 6

Hellas Verona 0-0 Pisa 

Saturday, February 7 

Genoa 2-3 Napoli
Fiorentina 2-2 Torino 

Sunday, February 8 

Bologna 0-1 Parma 
Lecce 2-1 Udinese 
Sassuolo 0-5 Inter  
Juventus 2-2 Lazio  

Monday, February 9

Atalanta vs Cremonese (5.30pm GMT) 
Roma vs Cagliari (7.45pm GMT)

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