MY ACCOUNT
It has been all change in Serie A in 2021, with the Milan clubs rejuvenated and the Old Lady knocked off her perch.
Inter Milan scooped the Scudetto for the first time since Jose Mourinho was in charge, while Juventus only just snuck into the Champions League.
Talking of the Special One, he is back too — this time at Roma. We have reviewed all the twists and turns as a dramatic year of Italian football comes to a close.
January: Milan start to wobble
Unbeaten in the first half of the season, Stefano Pioli’s Milan began to come unstuck in January.
A 3-1 defeat at home to Juventus was compounded by a 3-0 loss against Atalanta at San Siro, but Milan clung onto top spot.
Hot on their heels, Antonio Conte’s Inter made an imperious start to 2021 by crushing Crotone 6-2, before defeat to Sampdoria and draws with Roma and Udinese quickly undermined their title credentials.
Juventus lost their most important fixture too, going down to Inter in the Derby d’Italia.
February: Inter take top spot
A month later, Inter overtook Milan for the first time while Juve climbed into third as Roma won just once.
No one had a better February than Inter though, who hit their stride with four consecutive victories.
Most importantly, the Nerazzurri came out 3-0 winners in the Derby della Madonnina, with a brace from Lautaro Martinez and another strike from Romelu Lukaku sealing the bragging rights.
March: Title favourites falter
Having gone unbeaten until January 6, Milan were now in a fully-blown crisis.
Triumphs over Verona and Fiorentina steadied the ship, but the Rossoneri had won just three of their last seven.
Relentless Inter pressed home their advantage by winning all three of their March fixtures, as part of an 11-game winning streak which would eventually clinch the Scudetto.
At the foot of the table, newly-promoted Crotone parted company with Giovanni Stroppa, while Cesare Prandelli quit Fiorentina after a run of just four wins in 14 to start the new year.
April: Roma in ruins
Paulo Fonseca’s hopes of an Easter resurrection at Roma were dashed by a single win in five.
Things were little better at Milan, where defeats to Sassuolo and Lazio meant the Rossoneri ended the month outside the Champions League places for the first time since Matchday 2.
Inter, though, continued to march on. Draws with Napoli and Spezia were far from spectacular but Conte’s side kept grinding out results, scoring just seven times in six fixtures.
May: Inter crowned champions
Eleven years after last winning Serie A under Mourinho, Inter clinched the Scudetto on May 2 after closest challengers Atalanta drew 1-1 with Sassuolo.
No one could keep up with Inter’s pace in the second half of the season, only dropping points in six games and conceding just 18 times.
Milan, by contrast, would have finished sixth on the basis of their 2021 form, but still qualified for the Champions League along with Juventus thanks to their strong start.
The Old Lady needed a final-day win at Bologna to nick fourth, yet Andrea Pirlo — fired after the season’s end — bizarrely benched top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
June: New men at the helm
Incredibly, 12 teams changed head coach over the summer.
Most notably, Simone Inzaghi traded Lazio for Inter after Conte left the champions, while Fonseca exited Roma to be replaced by Mourinho at the end of his contract.
Claudio Ranieri (Sampdoria), Davide Nicola (Torino), Roberto De Zerbi (Sassuolo) and Beppe Iachini (Fiorentina) left at the end of their contracts too.
July: Inter break up the band
Inter wing-back Achraf Hakimi followed Conte out of the San Siro exit door, joining Paris Saint-Germain for £54million.
The Moroccan speedster was not the only Milanese star to head for the French capital, with Rossoneri No1 Gianluigi Donnarumma running down his contract to sign for Les Parisiens on a free.
Udinese captain Rodrigo De Paul also left Serie A, trading Udine for Atletico Madrid.
August: Big-name deals
Operating with a reduced budget for 2021-22 thanks to parent company Suning’s financial situation, Inter sold Serie A MVP Lukaku back to Chelsea for £103.5m.
That looked like being the biggest deal of the summer until Capocannoniere Ronaldo re-joined Manchester United for £13.5m.
On the field, expectations were high at Juventus following Max Allegri’s return.
Yet the coach who delivered five straight Scudetti between 2015 and 2019 endured a difficult start to his second stint, failing to beat Udinese and Empoli.
By contrast, Mourinho’s Roma got off to a flyer, defeating Fiorentina and Salernitana.
September: Juventus’ woes continue
Things got no easier for Juve in September and it took until Matchday 5 for the Bianconeri to claim their first Serie A win of the season, beating Spezia 3-2.
However, by the end of the month, Napoli led the way under Luciano Spalletti, posting a perfect record from six games — including consecutive 4-0 wins over Udinese and Sampdoria.
Both Milan clubs made unbeaten starts despite a high turnover of players, dropping just six points between them.
October: Still the Special One?
Mourinho is nothing if not predictable. After the climb comes the fall — and his time at Roma has been no different.
October yielded just two wins, with defeats to Milan and Juventus and a draw against Napoli suggesting the Giallorossi would struggle against better teams.
A 6-1 Europa League loss to Norwegian opponents Bodo/Glimt was the lowest point, though.
Much like in 2020-21, Milan made a flying start to the season and won all five of their October fixtures to move level with early pace-setters Napoli.
November: Sheva makes Serie A return
Serie A fans got their nostalgia hit at the start of the month when Genoa replaced Davide Ballardini with Milan legend Andriy Shevchenko.
The Ukrainian has yet to pick up a win in seven games with the Ligurian outfit, collecting just one league victory all season after finishing 11th last term.
At the summit, Inter and Atalanta closed the gap on top two Napoli and Milan.
The Nerazzurri edged a five-goal thriller with the Neapolitans in November, as well as drawing the first Milan derby of the season 1-1 — ex-Rossoneri attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu netting from the spot for his new side.
December: Inter end the year on top
The year ended as the previous campaign had finished, with Inter Milan top.
Inzaghi’s men sat four points ahead of rivals Milan thanks to a run of seven straight wins — five of which came in December.
The leaders also racked up six consecutive clean sheets to boot, concluding the year with a 1-0 win over Torino.
Nearest challengers Milan closed out 2021 with a 4-2 win at Empoli — enough to put them three points clear of Napoli, despite a 1-0 defeat to Maurizio Sarri’s side the week before Christmas.
At the foot of the table, new boys Salernitana have collected just eight points and look destined for a tough 2022.
Much like sister club Watford, the Zebrette operate a revolving door policy when it comes to coaches and former Crawley boss Gabriele Cioffi became their seventh since 2018 when he was appointed in December.
