As is tradition at the mid-season mark of the season, Serie A managers have offered an insight into who they believe will be crowned with various awards at the end of the season – AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was amongst those to contribute his opinion.
The ItalPress (via MilanNews) announced the list of the mid-season opinions for a list of topics, the Scudetto winner, Serie A’s breakout team, and also the player revelation of the year, as is tradition now, and there are very few differences in selections.
Stefano Pioli’s selections were as follows:
1. Revelation team: Bologna
2. Revelation player: Albert Gudmundsson
3. Italian Champion: Inter
Inter, given their nine-point lead, were consistently named as the managers’ vote for who will win the Scudetto at the end of the season. However, Gian Piero Gasperini strayed from this, believing that Juventus would lift the trophy at the end of the season.
Claudio Ranieri sat on the fence with his selection, listing both Inter and Juventus, which we feel somewhat breaks the rules of the debate, but hey-ho, and Inter’s Simone Inzaghi flat-out refused to answer that question.
In terms of the revelation team, Thiago Motta’s Bologna were most commonly given as the answer, with Inzaghi, Vincenzo Italiano and Gabriele Cioffi all straying from the norm and suggesting Frosinone.
Finally, in terms of the player who has broken out this year, Milan target Joshua Zirkzee was the most common choice.
The full list of votes can be found below.
SIMONE INZAGHI (Inter)
1. Frosinone
2. Zirkzee
3. ——-
GIAN PIERO GASPERINI (Atalanta)
1. Bologna
2. Ederson
3. Juventus
CLAUDIO RANIERI (Cagliari)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter/Juventus
AURELIO ANDREAZZOLI (Empoli)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
VINCENZO ITALIANO (Fiorentina)
1. Frosinone
2. Gudmundsson
3. Inter
EUSEBIO DI FRANCESCO (Frosinone)
1. Bologna
2. Calafiori
3. Inter
ROBERTO D’AVERSA (Lecce)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
WALTER MAZZARRI (Napoli)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
FILIPPO INZAGHI (Salernitana)
1. Bologna
2. Buongiorno
3. Inter
ALESSIO DIONISI (Sassuolo)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
IVAN JURIC (Torino)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
GABRIELE CIOFFI (Udinese)
1. Frosinone
2. Payero
3. Inter
MARCO BARONI (Verona)
1. Bologna
2. Ngonge
3. Inter
