As Serie A heads into its four final fixtures, the battle for Europe is reaching fever-pitch in Italy.
The Coppa Nazionale final will be contested by Lazio and Juventus, two sides who have essentially secured their positions in Europe for next season already. So the top six teams in the Serie A will all be competing in Europe next year.
As things stand just three points separate teams ranked from fifth to ninth on the table.
Fiorentina leads the pack in fifth place, continuing on from a good season last year in which they finished fourth, albeit 13 points away from the top three and a place in the Champions League.
A strong squad comprised of some well-known names such as ex-Liverpool player Alberto Aquilani, ex-German international Mario Gomez and Mohamed Salah, who joined on loan from Chelsea. Their most impressive player, however, has arguably been Gonzalo Rodriguez, who has been vital at the back this season and also produced up front with six goals, a great tally for a centre-back.
Following behind them is Sampdoria, a surprise package for the season after only returning to the Serie A two campaigns ago. Led by a strong midfield consisting of Pedro Obiang and Angelo Palombo, Sampdoria’s weakness this season has been up front with their main striker Eder only managing nine goals from 28 games, followed by Stefan Okaka and Luis Muriel with four each.
Sampdoria has only managed to put together 41 goals for the season so far, an average of just over one goal per game. Their lack of offensive output has as a result seen them draw 15 out of 34 games. A key focus of their final run will be finding a way to improve their scoring while adding to an impenetrable defence.
Genoa is yet another team which has drawn widespread acclaim for their performances this season. After staving off relegation with consecutive 17th places finishes in 2011-12 and 2012-13 their 14th place finish in the Serie A last season showed signs of slight improvement.
But it did not hint that their 2014-15 season would reap any of the rewards which the side are currently enjoying. A heavily consistent run has not seen them fall out of the top ten of the Serie A since Week 6, showing remarkable consistency from a club which little had been expected of.
Leading the club from the back has been Mattia Perin, the 22-year-old goalkeeper having a brilliant year, which began with him making the final 23 of the Italian World Cup squad. This season Perin also made his debut for the national team in November where he played the final 17 minutes in a friendly versus Albania. He is deemed by many within Italy to be the heir to the number one shirt when Gigi Buffon retires. However, he has strong competition with the likes of Salvatore Sirigu and Simone Scuffet to compete with.
After the departures of Jose Mourinho and Leonardo, Inter Milan have had a string of poor seasons and inconsistent results. A far cry from their previous dominance where they managed to win five consecutive Serie A titles, the first side to do so in 60 years after the great Il Grande Torino.
Spending the majority of the season languishing in mid table mediocrity and suffering poor results in Europe, Inter were knocked out of the Europa League by Wolfsburg after a shock 5-2 demolition over both legs. Good performances by Mateo Kovacic and Mauro Icardi highlight that the future is still indeed bright for Inter, but in a season where expectations were high qualifying for the Europa League would still be regarded as failure.
Unlike their rivals in Genoa, Fiorentina and Sampdoria, Torino found early goings difficult due to the loss of key players from the 2013-14 season in Alessio Cerci and Ciro Immobile.
By the 20th game of the season the club had yet to rise higher than 12th in the Serie A table. A 12-game unbeaten run, which included a 5-1 win over Sampdoria, however, managed to break them back into the top ten and back on the road to a successful season.
Following their elimination from the Europa League the club has not lost in the last seven games, including their first win over rivals Juventus in the Derby Della Mole after 20 years of draws and defeats. The return of Fabio Quagliarella to his former club and the impressive performances of Matteo Darmian and Kamil Glik over the second half of the season have been paramount in laying the foundations for a last ditch grab at a spot in Europe.
With Torino having five fixtures left at the time of writing, a win over Empoli will see them into sixth over Sampdoria, however the last fixtures each club has will be critical in deciding where they finish on the table and who will miss out on Europe.
Fiorentina – Empoli (A), Parma (H), Palermo (A), Chievo (H)
Sampdoria – Udinese (A), Lazio (H), Empoli (A), Parma (H)
Genoa – Torino (H), Atalanta (A), Inter (H), Sassuolo (A)
Inter – Lazio (A), Juventus (H), Genoa (A), Empoli (H)
Torino – Empoli (H), Genoa (A), Chievo (H), Milan (A), Cesena (H)
Inter face arguably the toughest run, while Fiorentina’s is probably the easiest of the bunch, however the matches between Torino-Genoa and Inter-Genoa will be highly significant in who succeeds and who fails in this year’s quest for European competition.
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