Across Europe's so-called top five men's leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga—there is little intrigue left in the season. Germany and France both wrapped up their 34-match leagues this past weekend, crowning familiar champions in Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain with plenty of time left over. Liverpool clinched the Premier League title at the end of April, and Barcelona claimed its trophy last Thursday.
While there are still some battles to be had over Champions League qualification in England—where five teams vie for three spots—and a relegation struggle between Espanyol and Leganés in Spain, there's not much action at the top of European soccer heading into the final weekend of the season, save for in Italy, where there's a title race, a fight for the Champions League places, and a five-team brawl to escape relegation. The best drama coming up in this final weekend of domestic soccer will be in Italy, and there's so much to play for.
Let's start at the top, as this penultimate weekend was big for the title race. Through 36 matches, only a single point separated Napoli and Internazionale. Both teams kicked off their respective matches at the same time on Sunday, with Napoli traveling to Parma and Inter hosting Lazio at the San Siro. Admittedly, the action was only in Milan, as Napoli struggled to convert its 73 percent possession into any goals, and Parma, which wasn't, and still isn't, mathematically safe from relegation, held on to a scoreless draw. It wasn't easy, as Napoli hit the post repeatedly and even had a penalty shout at the end of the match, but the 0-0 extended the life of the title race for at least one final week.
In the other match, there were plenty of chances and plenty of goals. Inter took the lead via Yann Bisseck just before halftime, when the German defender pounced on a ball in the box and blasted it past goalie Christos Mandas. The key moment in the match, though, was the 53rd-minute introduction of supersub Pedro. The former Barcelona man, now 38 years old, has been the best source of bench goals in Europe this season, entering Sunday's match with eight. Though it took a bit of time for him to make his mark on Sunday, the Spaniard scored the equalizer in the 72nd minute. A sloppy sequence of play in the Inter box ended with Pedro blasting the ball in, and though it was ruled offside on the field, VAR confirmed the goal soon after.
Seven minutes later, Denzel Dumfries, fresh from a stellar performance across both legs of the Champions League semifinal against Barcelona, popped up at the far post on a set piece and thundered in a crucial header for Inter, giving the hosts the lead in the match and in the league table. That's how it would stay until the last seconds of regular time, when Valentín Castellanos hit a ball off of Bisseck's arm, earning Lazio a penalty.
Up stepped Pedro, and though Yann Sommer, riding off of his own Champions League heroics, dove the right way, the ball snuck by him. Pedro's brace and the 2-2 draw kept both Lazio's Champions League hopes and Napoli's title dreams in play. (Inter almost took back the lead with a potential late winner, but Francesco Acerbi, the scorer of the key equalizer in the Champions League tie, saw his off-balance shot go just wide in the 100th minute.)
Thanks to Pedro's heroics, Napoli still controls its destiny. It would be a hell of a feat if the Neapolitans hang on and win. After finishing last season in 10th place, and selling star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG in January, Napoli has ridden two Premier League cast-offs into prime position to win its second Scudetto in three years and fourth overall. Romelu Lukaku finally ended his Chelsea tenure last summer, following two loan stints in Italy (with Inter and Roma), moving over to Napoli in a €30 million transfer. He leads Napoli in goals this season with 13, and surprisingly leads all of Serie A with 10 assists. More impactful—and I can't believe I'm writing this—has been former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, who might have been the top player in Serie A this season, scoring 11 goals and tallying four assists from center midfield. If Napoli does pull this off, then McTominay will go down as probably the best signing in Europe this season. Who could have seen that coming?
There is one quirk with Serie A that could extend the title race past this weekend: If Napoli loses to Cagliari and Inter draws with Como, the two clubs will be equal on points, which would trigger a one-match playoff for the title, which would have to take place before Inter's Champions League final against PSG on May 31. (The possibility of a playoff is why the two sides play on Friday, in order to create some separation in case a midweek match needs to be played before the Champions League final.) It's unlikely results will break in the way that necessitates a playoff, but the possibility is tantalizing.
Though the title race will almost certainly (but not definitely!) be decided on Friday, that won't end the fireworks coming from the boot. Thanks to Lazio's late comeback against Inter, it's officially a three-team race for the last Champions League spot. While Atalanta is relaxing in its already cemented spot in third, Juventus (67 points), Roma (66), and Lazio (65) could all finish fourth, depending on how results end up. If Juventus beats Venezia in Venice, then that's that, but if the Old Lady drops any points, it would open a chance for Roma, which plays Juve's local rivals Torino, or Lazio, who host Lecce.
While Torino has nothing to play for, Venezia and Lecce are scrapping for survival in the dogfight at the bottom of the table. Venezia needs something of a minor miracle to avoid yo-yoing back down to Serie B. Not only does the fashionista club need to beat Juventus, it also needs at least one of Lecce or Empoli to lose. Parma's draw against Napoli has it in good position to stay up as well, sitting two points above the relegation zone, but it's not safe yet. And Verona, sitting in 16th place, is also in danger, though it would need four different results to go against it in order to drop. There's also the possibility of a playoff match here as well: If two teams are tied on points in 17th, then they will play one match to decide who stays up.
As you can see, there is so much in play for the final weekend of Serie A that there will be little reason to tune in to anything else on Sunday, particularly as the EPL's Champions League spots will be decided a couple hours before Serie A kicks off its final batch of games at 2:45 p.m. Eastern. With exactly half of the league still needing results for various accolades and placements, this could and should be the most exciting weekend of the club season across any of Europe's top leagues. Given how everywhere else is mostly settled, the thrillingly messy Italian league will provide one last burst of action before the long summer break begins, and isn't that the most anyone can ask from a final weekend?
