THE EURO FILES: The Serie A never changes… it is played in court as much as on on the pitch

If Juventus beat Serie A leaders Napoli on Sunday, they will be 13 points behind. Last week they were 31 points behind, but these things happen when the season is played on the track as well as the field.

Thursday’s decision by Italy’s highest sports court within the Italian Olympic Committee has overturned the Italian Football Federation’s decision in January to dock Juventus 15 points. And it’s not over yet.

The case has been sent back to the Italian Football Federation’s Court of Appeal for a further decision.

A nine-point deduction instead of the original fifteen-point ruling, which is considered excessive, is one possible outcome. But this new decision could not come until June and Juve could start next season with minus nine, leaving their position untouched this season. It’s chaos.

Even if no more points are taken this season, they will still have to scrape to finish in the top four with Lazio, Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan all in the running.

Juve’s next game may be the toughest. They are receiving Napoli, who beat them 5-1 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at the start of the year, and are desperate to get their midweek Champions League disappointment, which saw them knocked out in the quarter-finals by Milan, out of their system . .

In an emotional social media post addressed to the fans, Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia said: “It’s hard for me to see your eyes full of tears, realizing that I can’t bring you happiness. There are still many matches to come, so the dream continues.’

Napoli’s dream is to win their first title since 1990 and they will want to do it as soon as possible.

Juventus’ dreams have been reduced to making it to next season’s Champions League and their struggle to achieve that will divide the country, as always.

“About half of Italy loves Juve and the other half hates them,” says Toni Padilla, author of Unico Grande Amore, a survey of the country’s football culture.

Such emotions intensified as allegations of false accounting, transfer market manipulation and misleading financial statements led to points penalties and suspensions for Andrea Agnelli and 11 other Juve executives, including the now former Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici.

The accusation that Juve announced player transfer fees and team-wide pay cuts that suited their Financial Fair Play numbers but never really existed is still in the air, as are doubts over exactly how they rewarded Cristiano Ronaldo.

It is also the only Italian club to have stayed on the sinking ship of the European Super League, despite many of their fans being against the idea.

The club would love to play in the Champions League, the competition they want to scrap.

Winning the Europa League would get them there. But after Thursday’s ruling, the way through Serie A is completely open again, at least until the next gavel falls.

Trophies are not a measure of Joaquin’s worth

It’s an easy yardstick to measure a player’s career when he retires – how many trophies has he won?

Spain winger Joaquin announced his retirement on Wednesday, reminding everyone that sometimes it doesn’t come close to measuring a player’s worth.

The 41-year-old will retire after 23 years in the game but has just three Spanish Cup winners’ medals to show. He made just 38 Champions League appearances, never won a league title and was dropped from Spain’s squad just as they were on the verge of winning three major tournaments in a row between 2008 and 2012.

But he played for the club he grew up with, Real Betis, had an adventure abroad with Fiorentina, represented his country and made 615 appearances in Spain’s top division.

He played with a smile and provoked millions with his football.

During a two-hour press conference on Thursday, Joaquin cried as he remembered calling his father as a child to tell him the good news that Betis wanted to sign him. “Daddy, we did it,” he told him.

He would later stand up Jose Mourinho, who failed to show up for a meeting with Chelsea because he wanted to stay with the club in his hometown for as long as they could afford him.

His three large medals fit in a shoe box. But the feeling that he’s still squeezed every drop of his career is huge.

Italy’s weak authorities still have the last laugh at racists

It seems none of the major European leagues have less desire to eradicate racism than Serie A. Juventus’ Allianz Stadium will be fully open for Sunday’s game against Napoli, despite the original decision to close part of South End because of the racist abuse that was aimed at it. there, with Romelu Lukaku in the recent Italian Cup semi-final with Inter.

Lukaku was sent off for a second yellow card after putting his finger to his lips in front of the Juve fans. That suspension was never lifted, but the partial ground closure was lifted.

It is not only administrative bodies that grant perpetrators immunity. Police in Naples this week watched passively as Napoli fans staged monkey chants at AC Milan’s Rafael Leao ahead of the second leg of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final.

Leao’s performance got Milan through, but that doesn’t mean he’s ‘having the last laugh’. That still goes to the racists, as long as the sanctions are weak and easily undone.

Program in favor of Man City

You wouldn’t exactly call it the first goal in the Manchester City vs Real Madrid game, but the Spanish club’s schedule ahead of the first leg on May 9 favors Pep Guardiola’s side.

Real Madrid will play the Spanish Cup final on the Saturday before their meeting on Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It was scheduled for the week before, but a trade fair in Seville, where it is being played, has pushed it back, on top of the Champions League semi-final first leg in Madrid.

The 10pm kick-off against Osasuna won’t allow too much rotation from Carlo Ancelotti, who will also miss suspended Eder Militao in that first game against City – while his replacement David Alaba has been given two weeks to recover from a minor injury. calf. tear. Details will decide the meeting of arguably the best two sides in Europe – and so far the details are in City’s favour.