This week, Italian football fans, like fans of all leagues around Europe, will have a present. The fifth round of Serie A starts today and tomorrow, nine games will be played at the same time (except Benevento-Roma). So, if you don’t have any plan to do these two days, calcio offers you something amazing to watch. As every week in VAVEL Italia, let’s see what Serie A has prepared for this round.

Good start for the fifth round

Only one match will be played today. Bologna will receive a difficult and nice visit for them: Inter. There’s a curious information about this match: Bologna hasn’t won Inter since February of 2002. Fifteen years without winning. That’s may be a reason why Donadoni squad, knowing that it’s a difficult job, will try to break this record and not allow Inter to get three points again. However, Inter is one of the three leaders and they only want a victory from their visit to Bologna.

That will be the only Tuesday fixture. The other nine matches, as it was said before, will be played on Wednesday. And the only match which won’t be played at 18:00 is Benevento vs. Roma. In this game, Roma has a high probability of winning (more than 90%) but who knows. Nobody can know what will happen in Stadio Ciro Vigorito. Roma, as Sampdoria, has one match less, so they have six points of nine. It won’t be difficult for Di Francesco to reach another victory.

Eight games at the same time

At 20:45, Italian football fans will have to choose what game to watch, because it’s not possible to see eight matches at the same time. In one hand, Hellas Verona will face Sampdoria in Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi. Pecchia squad didn’t have a great start of the league competition: they only got one point of four matches (the draw against Crotone in august). In fact, Sampdoria has won against Fiorentina and got a draw against Torino in a very difficult match, which shows that Sampdoria is able to be at the five top positions in the classification.

Cagliari will face Sassuolo Calcio in Stadio Is Arenas while Genoa will be receiving Chievo in Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris. Chievo has four points and Genoa only one, so Juric can make Genoa fans happier by winning and reaching Rolando squad. Besides, Atalanta will face Crotone with lots of doubtful players like Ilicic, Masiello or Gosens (they may play or not). It’s twelve years since Crotone last won Atalanta (it happened when both teams were playing Serie B), but it won’t be easy for them to get points from Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.

Difficult games for the leaders

The outstanding match of the round will be played in Juventus Stadium. The Allegri squad will receive Fiorentina in a good situation: they are leaders, but Fiorentina didn’t start strong and they need to reach, at least, one point. In fact, the last time these two teams faced each other, Fiorentina got a win, so it’s difficult to know what will happen in Juventus Stadium. Bets are giving Fiorentina a 9% of probability to win, but that’s may be a reason for Pioli to make a surprise and getting points of Torino.

The second outstanding match of the round will be played in Stadio Olimpico. Lazio is facing Napoli in a great fixture: Napoli is another leader with twelve points and Lazio is in fourth position with ten points. Only two points of difference. It’s obvious that both teams will play a rough match because both want the three points to continue at the top. Who will win, Simone Inzaghi or Maurizio Sarri? Don’t miss this match!

In another hand, SPAL will visit San Siro for the first time. Semplici squad arrived to Serie A this year and they got four points in four matches, so it’s kind a good start knowing that they are new in this division. Finally, Udinese and Torino will play in Stadio Comunale Friuli in a difficult game for both teams: the final score of this fixture is used to be a draw or a victory with few goal difference. Lots of good battles will be fought these two days, so now you have something to do if you like calcio!

Autore Enrique Manzanares