I have never fully understood the process for establishing the Serie A fixtures. It is not a draw for certain, or maybe there's partially a draw. As I said, I'm not sure. Does anyone know? Or is it better not to know?
What I do know is that almost every year, Milan and Lazio face off somewhere around the 2nd and the 4th round. And that usually the Milan derby takes place fairly late in the season.
This year, Napoli's president according to reports petitioned that Napoli should not play against big teams the week after a Champions League week. He was unsuccessful. At the early stage of the season, Napoli will play both Milan and Inter after a Champions League week. That made president Aurelio De Laurentiis so angry that he left the buidling, and asked a random passer-by on a motorcycle for a ride away from there, mumbling that he was ashamed to be an Italian and that he would go back to producing movies.
An amusing and yet confusing story. Are you allowed to make such petitions? And why being so upset? Not only Napoli but also the opponents Milan and Inter will play in the Champions League that week, and we do not know yet which of the teams will get one day more of rest than the other.
What I take away from the draw (or whatever it is) is that even if Milan would straggle behind Inter this season, we should still have a decent hope if we are six points behind with two games to go. The season ends with the derby della madonnina in round 37, and on the last day Inter travel to Rome to play Lazio. They did that also in 2002, with a chance of securing the title, and I will never forget these beautiful scenes. The Inter-loser days may be over, but Italians have a hard time ignoring the curse of history.
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