As Serie A weekends go, Friday night’s opener looked and, ultimately, was a home banker.
Yet there was a spell when it looked like the SBOTOP Serie A 2026 betting odds could be sent spinning into orbit.
Because, for 16 first-half minutes, bottom club Pisa – with just one league win all season – led 2-0 at the San Siro against leaders Inter Milan.
Stefano Moreo was the star for the basement battlers with both, the first a goal of the season contender as he intercepted a back pass and lobbed goalkeeper Yann Sommer from all of 30 yards.
When Moreo grabbed his second with a header eight minutes later, Pisa were in dreamland.
They were probably in disbelief too and, even though it stayed like that until the 39th minute, the Nerazzurri demonstrated their character by scoring three times in six minutes to lead by the break.
The comeback was sparked by a Piotr Zielinski penalty before Lautaro Martinez headed the hosts level and Pio Esposito was clinical in first half stoppage time.
It took until eight minutes from time for Inter to finally kill the game off but they were clinical as they added three more in quick succession via a Federico Dimarco volley, Ange-Yoan Bonny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s first Serie A goal in over a year.
It was the ideal way to bounce back from their midweek Champions League setback at home to Arsenal.
Six goals, six different scorers and a six-point lead at the summit was pleasing for the home side, although manager Cristian Chivu was quick to defend his player Luis Henrique from criticism after he was booed by a section of the home support following his 33rd minute substitution.
That set the scene for the weekend but it didn’t take very long indeed – the next match in fact – before there was another six goal haul.
Como’s demolition of Torino was their fourth win in six and took them, briefly, up to fifth in the table, a victory led by the influential Martin Baturina, who was on the scoresheet, with Tasos Douvikas bagging a brace as they hit six without reply against an injury hit and low in confidence opponents.
Saturday’s other two encounters could prove vital come the end of the season as Fiorentina and Lecce experienced contrasting fortunes.
After three wins out of six, the Viola were enjoying their best run of a miserable season so far and would have been hopeful of getting something at home to Cagliari.
That they didn’t, courtesy of a 2-1 away success – Semih Kilicsoy and Marco Palestra the marksman – coupled with Lecce holding Lazio to a goalless draw, means the sides have swapped places and Fiorentina have dropped back into the bottom three.
Arguably the result of the weekend went to Genoa who moved six points clear of the drop zone with a superb fightback at home to Bologna.
Lewis Ferguson and an own goal had put the visitors in the ascendancy but the 56th minute dismissal of their goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski was a clear turning point.
They had already had so few Serie A 2026 highlights to shout about since the turn of the year with three losses to date, along with a number of key men injured, while this was also a quick turnaround after they had been in Europa League action on Thursday.
Up against 10 men, the hosts, fast-improving under Daniele De Rossi, hit back to stretch their unbeaten run to five games.
They did it in style too with Ruslan Malinovskyi, Caleb Ekuban and Junior Messias all scoring spectacular goals, the winner coming in the first minute of stoppage time.
The first duty of Skorupski’s replacement, Federico Ravaglia, was to see a long-range free-kick from the Ukrainian midfielder whizz past him.
Ekuban’s volley on the turn soon afterwards was equally impressive and the best was yet to come as, with the seconds ticking down, substitute Messias bent an extraordinary finish into the top corner from outside the box.
The Luigi Ferraris Stadium erupted, an emotional Messias shed a tear and Genoa had what may prove to be their best half hour of the season.
The final two weekend games were the big two as Juventus hosted reigning champions Napoli before second-placed Milan travelled to the capital to face Roma.
The prospect of an exciting title race involving the fab four or possibly five teams is on the cards and there was much to play for.
What perhaps wasn’t expected was how clinically Juve, managed by Luciano Spalletti, the man who guided Napoli to the Scudetto in 2023, would see off their class of 2026 guided by Antonio Conte.
The latter had some mitigation given he was without 10 first-team players, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Billy Gilmour and David Neres among them, but there was no denying the better side won as Kenan Yildiz and Filip Kostic added a one-sided gloss on the scoreline in the closing stages following Jonathan David’s opener.
The ‘old lady’ of Turin are up to fourth, just a point behind Napoli.
A match up involving sides managed by Gian Piero Gasperini and Massimiliano Allegri will always be worth a close watch and, as my SBOTOP colleague Stuart duly noted pre-match, a draw wasn’t too much use to either team.
Yet that is exactly what happened as Lorenzo Pellegrini scored from the penalty spot just 12 minutes after Koni de Winter had headed home a peach of a delivery by veteran Luka Modric.
The point lifts Roma to third, while Milan were always going to stay second. A five point lead for Inter though means they are the big winners of the weekend.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
