Matchday 38, the final round of the 2025/26 Serie A season, was once again packed with pure excitement. Starting with the Champions League race, where Milan tripped themselves up despite an early lead. Juve also came away empty-handed. Meanwhile, pure joy for the surprise club.
Champions Inter Close Out the Season with a Six-Goal Thriller
The suspense surrounding the biggest decision of every season had already been taken out of the equation weeks ago, when the dominant leaders, Inter Milan, had secured the Scudetto early and deservedly so. That’s why the double champions (2-0 Coppa triumph over Lazio) were able to kick off this final matchday as early as Saturday—and delivered an exciting finish to the season with a 3-3 draw in Bologna.
The question of the runner-up—and the second Champions League spot—had also already been settled: SSC Napoli, thanks to goal-scorer Rasmus Höjlund, bid farewell to their home crowd with a three-point win early Sunday evening. That may also have been the final match for coach Antonio Conte, who is set to take on a new challenge after winning the title in 2025—possibly with the national team.
Battle Royale with Milan, Roma, Como, Juve
Behind the new and reigning Scudetto champions, however, the decision regarding the final two tickets to the Champions League wasn’t made until late Sunday—with Milan and Roma in pole position, because Juventus had committed a major blunder a week ago in their 0-2 loss to Fiorentina, sparking plenty of discussion, including an angry outburst from coach Luciano Spalletti.
The Giallorossi secured the first ticket in their first year under coach Gian Piero Gasperini. With a 2-0 win over relegated Hellas Verona, they capped off an overall solid first season—despite regular slumps, particularly in top-tier matches—by finishing third in the table.
This was made possible primarily by Paulo Dybala, with two assists, as well as Donyell Malen, on loan from Aston Villa since the winter, who scored his 14th goal in his 18th Serie A match to make it 1-0. Things got a little sentimental at the end when, of all people, Stephan El Shaarawy—who had received an emotional send-off just a week earlier in the Derby della Capitale—scored the decisive 2-0 goal.
Meanwhile, surprise club Como, which returned to Serie A just two years ago, pulled off another major upset. The club from Lake Como, which had already secured its European ticket recently, crushed newly promoted Cremona with a resounding 4-1 victory. Once again, the biggest thanks for this went to coach Cesc Fabregas.
Lecce stays up
Speaking of Cremona: The Lombardy-based club went into this 38th matchday one point behind US Lecce and, despite a 1-4 loss to Como—which also saw three red cards for the team—could no longer get back on track.
At the end of the day, however, it wouldn’t have been enough to avoid relegation anyway, as Lecce itself did its part with a 1-0 win over CFC Genoa and secured its place in the league on its own merits. Goal scorer Lameck Banda had already sealed the three points in the 6th minute.
Milan’s collapse and Juve’s half-hearted fight for the golden pineapple
In the end, however, the big losers were AC Milan and Juve. The Rossoneri had taken the lead in the 2nd minute through Alexis Saelemaekers in their final home game at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium against Cagliari Calcio, who were in no man’s land. Only to end up losing 1-2 and falling out of the Champions League spots. A low point after a season that had at one stage seen a run of 24 league games without a loss, as well as big-name players like Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot. But the attack led by Rafael Leao once again failed to deliver.
Last but not least, the record champions from Turin also missed out on the Champions League—even a 2-0 lead at one point, thanks to a brace by Dusan Vlahovic in the derby at Torino, wasn’t enough (2-2 in the end). Because with a win on the road, the Bianconeri would have also finished behind fourth-place Como, as they had lost both direct head-to-head matches this season.
To make matters worse, the Old Lady had to kick off this season finale long after the final whistle of the other matches, because the Turin derby had started with a significant delay following riots and fan protests. A Juventus fan was hospitalized after a brawl with rival supporters during the incident. Now it’s time to process this—just as it is to build the team of the future after yet another low point in Juve’s modern era.
A curious fact to wrap things up: Incidentally, for the first time since the Champions League’s inception (1992/93, previously the European Cup), both Juve and Milan will be absent from the competition.