First Division – Serie A. Two teams fought for the title. Although Italian football was number one in Europe, it was still the familiar tough and even boring battle on the pitch: only 3 teams ended with single-digit ties (Napoli, Milan, and Lecce), but Bari managed to tie 19 of their 34 championship games. Scoring was nothing to brag about either, as usual. Interestingly, the permission of 3 foreign players on the field attracted only a handful of clubs – most continued to use 2.The last 4 teams in the final table were relegated.
Last with 21 points and relegated.
Cremonese – 17th with 23 points and relegated.
Hellas Verona – 16th with 25 points and relegated.
Udinese – 15th with 27 points and relegated.
Cesena – 14th with 28 points.
Lecce – 13th with 28 points.
Fiorentina – 12th with 28 points. One expected much more from this squad than fighting to escape relegation. Top row from left: Battistini, Pioli, Buso, Dertycia, Malusci, Kubik, Zironelli. Middle row: Pellicano, Volpecina, masaje, Raveggi, el entrenador asistente de Bardin, entrenador de Giorgi, el entrenador de atletismo Baccani, los martillos masajeador, Oglio, Landucci. Sitting: Pin, Di Chiara, Iachini, Baggio, Nappi, Dunga, la cara.
Genoa – 11th with 29 points.
Bari – 10th with 31 points.
Lazio – 9th with 31 points.
Bologna – 8th with 34 points. The first Bulgarian to play in Italy appeared here: Nikolay Illiev.
Atalanta – 7th with 35 points.
Roma – 6th with 41 points.
Sampdoria – 5th with 43 points.
Juventus – 4th with 44 points.
Inter – 3rd with 44 points.
Milan – 2nd with 49 points.
Napoli ended as Italian champion with 51 points. 21 wins (one less than Milan), 9 ties, and only 4 lost games (Milan lost 7). 55-31 goal-difference – Napoli scored 1 goal less than Milan and also allowed 4 more goals than their rival, but they still finished 2 points ahead of mighty Milan. Which was great success and Maradona and company won their 2nd title. That was great and also not so great, for there were rapidly developing problems: first of all, Maradona, who played just 28 games, had frictions with the coach, and his cocaine consumption was getting quite public. His Brazilian teammates also were not at their best: Alemao played 27 games, Careca – only 22. Winning is winning, but it looked like Napoli was not going to last at the top.
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