Serie A title favourites flailing as frontrunner role is an awkward fit

Massimiliano Allegri looked like a man clutching at straws as he stared down the lens of a TV camera on Friday night and insisted that the single point his team had collected from a home game against Torino could help them qualify for the Champions League. By Sunday night, his words sounded prophetic.

Despite throwing away a lead in the derby, Juventus improved their advantage over fifth-placed Atalanta, reduced the gap to title favourites Inter and did not lose ground to any direct rival. Five out of Serie A’s top six played over the weekend, but none of them managed a win.

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Most astonishing was Milan’s draw away to Salernitana. Not for six years has a team at the top of Serie A failed to beat the team in last place.

There were 42 points between the sides at kick-off and the result looked like a foregone conclusion when Junior Messias opened the scoring for the Rossoneri in the fifth minute. The player who used to deliver refrigerators for a living exploited a gap in the defence that might genuinely have been wide enough to fit a lorry through.

By the 15th minute, Salernitana had also seen Ivan Radovanovic, signed in January to shore up their midfield, exit the game with an apparent ankle injury. And yet, by the 75th, they were 2-1 ahead. Federico Bonazzoli punished Mike Maignan’s over-eager rush off his line with an overhead-kick equaliser, before Milan Juric crashed home a header to put them in front.

They could have scored more. Bonazzoli missed an opengoal at 1-1, after stealing the ball from Maignan. It was hard to tell who had been more wasteful: the keeper, who lost possession while trying to dribble out of his own penalty box, or