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Inter streak ahead, while Juventus catch Roma - Weekly Round Up Serie A

Posted - 18th February 2008

Most of the decisive games for this weekend were, unusually, finished by Saturday evening. The big game of the weekend was, undoubtedly, the Juventus Roma match which saw Alessandro Del Piero swing in a great free kick to win the match 1-0. Inter picked up an easy three points, against a Livorno team overstretched after their well-earned draw against Milan mid-week. And Milan ended a wretched week for the club with an ignominiuos 0-0 draw against Parma. The reason the big guns were all in action on Saturday? Because its Champions League time, and hedge-betting was the order of the day. Sunday's matches, though, weren't without drama: Napoli had two players sent off, for incidents off the pitch; Fiorentina found form again, and snatched an important three points to retain their fourth-placed position; and Sampdoria beat Genoa in the Ligurian Derby, with Antonio Cassano showing off some of his old magic, and muppetry.

Juventus undoubtedly had an advantage going into their home-game against Roma, given that this year - thanks to their stay in Serie B last year, as a result of Calciopoli - they aren't competing in the Champions League. Roma, instead, are under pressure coming off the back of a shock defeat by Siena (3-0), and going into the first leg of their champions league fixture against Real Madrid on Tuesday. The match was reasonably balanced, as is to be expected between two of the top-teams from Serie A, but it was veteran Alessandro Del Piero (still very much at the heart of heated discussion between fans, as to whether he should be used more or less in the team formation) who, with a brilliantly taken free kick gave Juventus the advantage needed to close the match. The upshot of the result is that Juventus now lie just one point behind Roma, at 47 points. Both teams have lost just two matches this season, but while Juventus have more draws and less wins marginally to their credit momentum and the smart-money suggest they will overtake Roma next weekend. Roma face a tough Fiorentina side (who have to maintain their lead over Milan) at the weekend, while Juventus face an - at least on paper - easy match against Reggina.

It would have been an almost historic week for Tuscan club Livorno, had they drawn against Inter in the San Siro on Saturday Evening. Historic because during the week they had held AC Milan to a 0-0 draw (offering a serious setback to Milan's comeback) in the same stadium. It was not to be, though. Two well-taken goals by Inter's Honduran striker David Souzo scuppered that particular fantasy. Livorno were overstretched, suffering from injuries and fatigue, but gutsy and had a number of chances. Inter, though, were simply the stronger and more professional team. Coach Roberto Mancini, still rankling after weeks of accusations that Inter receive preferential treatment, quipped after the match, as there were no controversial refereeing decisions, that the prime-time football shows would have nothing to talk about.

It was a disastrous week for AC Milan, putting a spoke in the remarkable comeback they have made since the start of 2008. First there was the midweek 1-1 draw against Livorno (Milan were saved from a shock-defeat by lucky penalty). During the same match Ronaldo suffered what may-well-be a career-ending injury to his left-knee. The match against Livorno, as a game-in-hand, had been billed as the ideal moment for Milan to overtake a stalled Fiorentina in the league-table for that all-important fourth-place finish. Worse news was to come when Milan had a dissapointing 0-0 draw against Parma on Saturday, while Fiorentina defeated Catania 2-1 away from Home on Sunday night. The rossoneri have had more than their fair share of bad-luck, and Saturday was no exception, with the almost farcical news that substitute Goalkeeper Nelson Dida injured himself during a sideline warm up. The only highlight of the game was the entrance of Paolo Maldini, for his 1,000th appearance for Milan. No goals, and no joy. The bad luck continued on Sunday for Milan, as their main goalkeeper Australian Zeljko Kalac injured himself in training, dislocating the phalanx of his index finger. Two injured goalkeepers in the run-up to a champions league match against Arsenal - what more could you ask for? With all these woes piling up, it will take a real show of character for Ancelotti's team to make it into the top four by the close of the season. Not impossible, but difficutl.

Sicilian side Catania may have fancied their chances when travelling to Florence for the Sunday night match against Fiorentina, after their last match saw them drawing with high-flying Juventus. The side has not, though, won an away match in Florence in the last ten attempts, and there was simply too much at stake for Fiorentina to slip up. The Viola were slow to start, but as the game progressed they began to dominate the Sicilian side. The first goal came from a beautiful cross by Mario Santana headed home by Swiss-Serbian midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovi? (his first goal for the club since signing from FC Basel last year). The equaliser, when it came in the second-half, was against the run-of-play, with Peruvian Juan Manuel 'el loco' Vargas blasting in a shot which left substitute goalkeeper Avramov no-chance. Meanwhile Fiorentina's favourite striker Adrian Mutu, back after a brief absence due to injury, was showing fine form after his midweek goal against Norwegian side Rosenborg. He was unlucky to miss a couple of shots early in the second-half against Catania, and with twenty minutes to go his determination was rewarded. He streaked past the Catania defence, and with plenty of space blasted home a shot into the top right corner from twenty-five yards, effectively closing the match. A perfect result for Fiorentina, picking up three points while their rivals Milan were held to a draw. The possibility of qualifying for the Champions League looks ever-more real.

Sampdoria and Genoa met for the Derby della lanterna, the traditional Genoese derby. The first leg clash, before christmas proved dissapointing for all as the teams played a dull 0-0 match bereft of magic. Sunday's game, instead, had plenty of excitement and culminated with a moment of Cassano magic. With just three minutes to go, the temperamental striker from Bari weaved in and out of the Genoa defence and towards the left of the goal mouth before chipping in a perfect ball for Cristian Maggio to knock in with his right foot. Cassano was in form, and much of the Italian press is pushing for him to return for duty in the Italian squad for Euro 2008 - without mentioning that the striker picked up yet another yellow card during the match. For Roberto Donadoni there's a difficult choice to make - Cassano might make all the difference for the Italian Squad, positively or negatively, this summer.

Napoli found themselves, once more, facing crisis as they went down 1-3 at home to Empoli, a team fighting for survival in Serie A. Two goals came from Empoli's Nicola Pozzi, who in scoring his second twisted his knee badly and had to be stretchered off. At half-time, as the players entered the tunnel towards the dressing rooms some kind of confrontation occured between Empoli's Piccolo and Napoli's Zalayeta, which resulted in both being handed red-cards by the referee. Napoli's weak defence was again shown up when late in the second-half Domizzi had no choice but to committ a professional foul on Giovinco, and was sent-off for his efforts. Despite ploughing money into the club, chairman Aurelio Di Laurentiis was booed by fans at the end of the match, along with coach Reja and the players. Napoli, who started the season so well, had dreams of qualifying for the UEFA cup - a dream that looks impossible now.

In other matches, Antonio di Natale scored twice for Udinese in their welcome 3-1 win over Reggina, while Lazio beat Atalanta 3-0. Palermo got the better of Cagliari 2-1, and finally Siena and Torino drew 0-0.