Serie A Femminile: Napoli & Fiorentina continue to struggle as Juventus take another big step

April 3, 2022 c_admin Europe, Football News, Italy, Serie A Comments Off on Serie A Femminile: Napoli & Fiorentina continue to struggle as Juventus take another big step

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The focus in Serie A Femminile is continuing to gravitate towards the bottom of the table as multiple teams battle it out to avoid the final relegation spot.

Both Napoli and Fiorentina are in serious danger and they failed to win this weekend. Towards the top, Juventus won again and Roma put one foot in the Champions League.

Relegation scrap continues

Two of the relegation spots have been decided for many months now as Lazio and Hellas Verona have been far off the pace of anyone else.

This was the first weekend where they both actually picked up points at the same time. Hellas Verona got their first win of the season by beating Pomigliano 2-0 and Lazio drew 0-0 at home to Empoli.

That is not a good result for Empoli as they will have marked that game as a great chance to get three points and move further away from the final relegation spot. The effects of that draw were lessened when two of their direct rivals lost.

Fiorentina were away at AC Milan which isn’t a game they can have expected to win, but at this stage of the season, every game has to be viewed as an opportunity to pick up points.

La Viola lost 2-0 after strikes from Valentina Bergamaschi and Linda Tucceri Cimini and they are now sitting three points away from a season in Serie B having previously been a dominant force in Italian women’s football.

As for Napoli, the impetus is really on them to win games as they have to make up that three-point gap to Fiorentina. They had an away game against a Sampdoria side who have nothing to play for this season other than finishing in the top half.

Giorgio Spinelli gave Sampdoria the lead very early in the first half and then the Azzurre just could not find a way to get anything from the game. It will be a concern for Giulia Domenichetti that her side didn’t get something from a game that looked winnable on paper.

It will certainly be a bigger story if Fiorentina were the team who joined Lazio and Hellas Verona in Serie B given Napoli only escaped relegation on the final day last season.

A matter of time for Juventus

At the very top of the table, the hint of a serious title race this season when Juventus lost to Empoli and drew with Fiorentina became even more of a distant memory as the Bianconere made light work of Rita Guarino’s talented Inter team.

Juve took the lead in the 25th minute through Lisa Boattin’s superb long range striker but were pegged back by a ridiculous strike from Tatiana Bonetti. She received the ball on the edge of the box, cut inside two defenders and hit a perfect shot into the far right corner.

The game almost became a goal of the month/season exhibition as Boattin added hers and Juve’s second at the start of the second half. She received the ball on the angle of the box and rifled a shot into the near top corner.

The points were wrapped up with 20 minutes to go when Agnese Bonfantini scored yet another goal off the bench, just as she did in the Champions League against Lyon last week. Cristiana Girelli played a wonderful pass over the top to her and she finished with a calmness that is becoming her trademark.

The gap at the top is still five points because of Roma’s deeply impressive 3-0 victory away at Sassuolo, but with only four games to go, it is impossible to imagine Joe Montemurro’s side letting it slip now.

That win for Roma means they have a serious command over that second Champions League spot now, with Sassuolo and AC Milan set to miss out.

Serie A Femminile Round 18 results:
Hellas Verona 2-0 Pomigliano
Lazio 0-0 Empoli
Sassuolo 0-3 Roma
AC Milan 2-0 Fiorentina
Sampdoria 1-0 Napoli
Juventus 3-1 Inter

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