Leonardo Semplici could have encouraged his players not to worry before their game against Juventus. Nobody expected SPAL to get a result against opponents 15 places and 50 points ahead of them. As such, the manager might have told them to stay loose, to enjoy themselves, to go out and take a swing knowing that they had nothing to lose.
Instead he told them the truth. “We have lots to lose,” said Semplici before Saturday’s game. “We’re running out of games and we need to try to pick up points. We are facing the best team in Italy, and one of the strongest in Europe, but we still need to try to take a positive result.”
And so they did. Before a raucous crowd at the Stadio Paolo Mazza, SPAL battled their way to a 0-0 draw with the champions. Semplici’s team could not breach a Juventus defense that is yet to give up a league goal in 2018, but nor did they often risk conceding against Serie A’s most prolific attack.
It was a defiant performance, embodied by Pasquale Schiattarella’s ferocious pressing in front of the defense. As he – a player who was once considered more of a winger than a midfield destroyer – took the battle to Miralem Pjanic and company, Jasmin Kurtic and Alberto Grassi worked tirelessly on either side to block up the passing lanes.
With SPAL’s back three swamping Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala, Juventus were limited mostly to attacking down the flanks, where Douglas Costa found space but never quite the perfect delivery into a crowded penalty area. So frustrated did the Bianconeri become that Giorgio Chiellini was soon sprinting forward from defense to offer an unexpected angle of attack. That was before he limped off, clutching a hamstring.
When the board went up showing five minutes of added time at the end, the home crowd braced itself for the inevitable: another last-gasp Juventus winner. But this time it never arrived. The final whistle went and the celebrations began.
Semplici might have convinced his players this was a game to take points from, but that did not mean it was just any old fixture. For a club that has been out of Serie A for 50 years, to defy the winners of this league’s last six editions had to mean something more.
SPAL’s co-owner, Simone Colombarini, was said by his wife to still be doing somersaults almost an hour after the game. Thirty-four-year-old Eros Schiavon, who first played for the club when they were in the fourth tier, rode through the mixed zone guffawing atop a broken bicycle.
This was a result with huge implications at the top. Juventus had blown an opportunity to temporarily move seven points clear in first place. Instead, Napoli’s win over Genoa one day later closed the gap back down to two. With nine games to go, the Scudetto race is alive and kicking.
But before we get to that, it is right to focus on SPAL and their achievement. Hard questions were being asked of Semplici as recently as February, with his team seemingly drifting towards an inevitable relegation. After a 2-0 defeat by Cagliari, several newspapers reported the forthcoming home game against Milan represented his final chance to save his job. SPAL lost 4-0.
But Colombarini and his father Francesco, who own the club together, persisted. After taking over in 2013, they had hired Semplici one year later. He is the man who steered SPAL to consecutive promotions from the third tier. They would not abandon him lightly.
Semplici has since begun to reward their faith, as well as their investment into the squad in the most recent transfer window. This was SPAL’s fourth consecutive positive result, following wins over Crotone and Bologna, and a draw at Sassuolo. There were two January signings – Kurtic plus defender Thiago Cionek – in the starting XI against Juventus, and a further two – Everton Luiz and Lorenco Simic – who entered from the bench.
SPAL’s situation remains precarious – they are just one point above the relegation zone and all three teams behind them have a game in hand. But they have given themselves a fighting chance. A result like this one, furthermore, can only lend additional confidence for the final stretch.
For Juventus, this was a blow but hardly a fatal one. Allegri insisted this setback would help his team to stay focused down the stretch. He might draw parallels with the 2015-16 campaign, when the Bianconeri started slowly before winning 15 consecutive games to overtake Napoli. That run ended with a surprising 0-0 draw against Bologna, before Juventus rattled off another 10 straight victories to lift the Scudetto.
Napoli, though, will be eager to write a different ending this time, and demonstrated their own resilience by winning despite a less-than-sparkling performance against Genoa. With a trip to Turin still to come, their destiny is back in their own hands. If they can match the conviction SPAL showed on Saturday, this title race might yet come down to a photo finish.
The Guardian Sport
