Season Finale: Three Layers of Risk in Your Fantasy Squad
Round 38 of the 2025-26 Serie A season—the final round—gets underway in full this weekend. The opening marquee fixture sees Fiorentina host Atalanta at home, while the battle for Champions League places will be settled when Verona face Roma on the final day. Milan, Roma, Como and Juventus remain locked in a fight for the last two Champions League spots, while Lecce and Cremonese are battling for survival in the relegation zone. Per the schedule, all key fixtures kick off simultaneously at 20:45 on Sunday evening—Fantasy managers must lock in their final squads before the deadline; any delay could wipe out an entire season's worth of points.
Recommended Formation: 3-4-3
Fantasy selection for the final round isn't just about the numbers—it's about keeping risk under control. Below, we break down potential returns and pitfalls across three tiers—goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders—using a 3-4-3 formation overall to balance clean sheet bonus with attacking upside.
Goalkeepers: The Certainty of Relegation Battles
Lecce host Genoa at home, and €5.9m first-choice Vladimiro Falcone is the core goalkeeper pick this gameweek. The hosts need crucial relegation points in front of their home crowd; Falcone brings leadership and big-game composure, and against a Genoa side with no clear league objective left, a clean sheet and a high Fantasy tier are within reach. Genoa lack the drive to chase points—if Lecce press high for 90 minutes, the keeper is the steadiest floor asset in Fantasy. The risk is that if the hosts’ attack lacks efficiency, the match may turn into a low-scoring stalemate, but Falcone’s personal rating should still hold up well.
Defense: differentiated picks across three fixtures
In Bologna vs Inter Milan, €9.5m Alessandro Bastoni remains the absolute safety net at the back. Even though this fixture has relatively limited impact on the table, Inter still want to finish an extraordinary season on a high note; Bastoni’s technical quality, attacking involvement and defensive focus rank among the best centre-backs in Serie A—he needs almost no extra justification on the Fantasy side.
On the season finale opener, Fiorentina face Atalanta, and €5.8m Isak Hien is in top form. Against a relatively composed Viola, this aggressive centre-back has clear advantages in one-on-ones and aerial duels, with late-season form trending upward—he stands out among mid-priced defenders on value.
Napoli host Udinese at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium (capacity 60,240), where €8.3m Alessandro Buongiorno embodies Napoli’s defensive stability this season. Udinese’s attack has gone quiet in recent weeks—the Italy international is a reliable pick for those chasing clean-sheet bonuses; the home finale atmosphere will also sharpen focus, but beware Udinese’s occasional counter-attacking sucker punches.
Midfield tier: direct payoff from late-season openness
Parma host Sassuolo at home, and Gabriel Strefezza makes the midfield shortlist. With neither side facing higher-stakes points pressure, the tempo often opens up; Strefezza’s creativity and direct involvement in attack are the lever for Fantasy midfield returns in goals or assists. Compared with premium staples, this path is a “medium risk, medium reward” end-of-season play—if the match breaks open early, his output has plenty of upside.
Final-day landscape and Fantasy calls
At the league-wide level, this round mixes three scripts: Champions League places, survival, and mid-table sides playing with “nothing to lose.” Fantasy picks should be tiered by match motivation: survival clubs’ goalkeepers and centre-backs for safer floor, title/top-four cores at centre-back for stability, and attacking midfielders in mid-table head-to-heads.
Kickoffs in sync mean you cannot react to early results—confirm every starting XI before the deadline. Lecce at home and Napoli’s home finale get an extra edge from capacity and atmosphere; Falcone and Buongiorno’s “low-risk” profiles suit as lineup anchors; Bastoni and Hien form a centre-back safety net; Strefezza carries the upside swing. If budget allows, bench a survival goalkeeper or an attacking midfielder for last-round tactical shifts and red cards—the biggest foe on the final day is not the opponent, but stale information and a rigid lineup.
