SERIE A ROUND 29
 
6 MAY 2001

JUVENTUS			2-2			ROMA
Del Piero 4						Nakata 79
Zidane 6							Montella 91

Zidane received a pass from Davids and probably couldn't believe the gaping
hole through the centre of Roma's defence but he ran wide, turned Zanetti
and floated a cross upto the back post, Antonioli got nowhere near Del Piero
and he headed into the bottom of the net. Inzaghi knocked David's pass into
Zidane and he shot to Antonioli's left, 2-0. Awful play by Antonioli on both
goals. Roma's only noteworthy chance of the half fell to Batistuta but he
shot wide.

Juve were cruising in the second half until Nakata pulled one back and they
fell apart. Nakata stole the ball of Tacchinardi, headed for goal and let
rip from 20yds. He took another shot from distance, Van der Sar dropped what
should have been an easy catch and Montella acrobatically volleyed the
equaliser. Tacchinardi and Assuncao were harshly sent off after exchanging
un-pleasantries, the type you need your parents to refute.

I'm not going to say it's over because Roma have pissed away healthy leads
twice this season.

Assists : Zidane, Inzaghi
Red Cards : Tacchinardi 92 (Juventus), Assuncao 92 (Roma)

Remaining Fixtures :

ROMA			JUVENTUS		LAZIO
Atalanta (H)		Fiorentina (A)		Napoli (A)
Bari (A)			Bologna (A)		Udinese (H)
Milan (H)		Perugia (H)		Inter (A)
Napoli (A)		Vicenza (A)		Fiorentina (H)
Parma (H)		Atalanta (H)		Lecce (A)


INTER				3-0			ATALANTA
Vieri 6, 9
Recoba 34

Atalanta were done after two goals in the first 10 minutes. Vieri's first was
a brilliant left volley from Dalmat's cross. Recoba smashed a free kick
against the crossbar, Vieri put away the rebound. Dalmat and Vieri set-up
Recoba for the third. Nothing of note in the second half. Inter were probably
saving themselves for next weeks Milan derby.

The Atalanta supporters (at least I assume they were) took out their
frustrations on a scooter that someone foolishly left in the stands, well
how else did it get there?

Attendance : 52,000
Assists : Dalmat, Vieri


LAZIO				2-0			BARI
Veron 25, 40

Veron pulled his finger out of his arse for the first time in months to
maintain Lazio's title challenge. Mihajlovic swung a corner into the box,
Lopez headed the ball out and Veron drilled a low shot past Narciso. Veron
tried his luck again from further out and 20 year old Narciso let the ball
slip through his fingers. In a nice touch, Neqrouz tried to console the young
'keeper. Crespo blew an open goal. Lazio switched off. Poggi and Perrotta
briefly threatened to get Bari back in the match. Narciso made a good stop
from Lopez then made a mess of Mihajlovic's corner, fortunately Marcolini
bailed him out by clearing off the line.

Attendance : 40,000
Assists : Lopez, ?


PARMA				4-0			NAPOLI
Micoud 32
Milosevic 50
Di Vaio 65, 75

Lamouchi touched on a free kick and Micoud smashed the ball into the net.
Milosevic took Lamouchi's return pass and brilliantly lifted the ball over
Mondini. Matuzalem failed to take advantage of Sensini's hospital pass by
shooting over with an open goal at his mercy. Di Vaio headed in Conceicao's
cross. He tried to dribble through Napoli's defence, failed and then tried to
pick out a team-mate but the ball deflected off referee Collina, Di Vaio
turned and shot past Mondini.

Attendance : 18,000
Assists : Lamouchi (x2), Conceicao


PERUGIA				2-1			MILAN
Vryzas 4, 50						Shevchenko 31
							(Pen)

Cesare Maldini must be one hell of a miracle worker because when you watch
this match you cannot understand how Milan kept 5 clean sheets in their last
6 games. Liverani chipped a ball into the box, Tedesco flicked it on,
Costacurta slipped, Baiocco centred and Vryzas tapped in at the far post.
Kaladze conned the ref into awarding a penalty, Shevchenko sent Mazzantini
the wrong way. Rossi sort of made a great save from Liverani in first half
injury time, he blocked the shot but the ball spun away and could have
went anywhere.

Rossi, inexplicably preferred to Abbiati by Cesare Maldini then threw away
any chances of a comeback. He went up for a cross, caught the ball, dropped
it on his knee and Vryzas reacted before Milan's ancient defence to score his
second. Other than Rivalta's clearance off the line, Perugia were barely
troubled.

Attendance : 12,000 
Assists : Baiocco, Kaladze


VERONA				2-1			FIORENTINA
Salvetti 62						Chiesa 91
Italiano 71

Nuno Gomes almost certainly ended his Fiorentina career with a horrific miss.
He was sent clear by Rui Costa, took an age to go round Doardo and then shot
against the recovering defender, Oddo. Rui Costa laid a goal on a plate for
Chiesa but he somehow managed to shoot wide.

Adailton swung a corner into the box, Salvetti made a run across goal and
directed his header into the top corner, great finish. Seconds later Italiano
released Adailton with an awesome pass but he took too long allowed the
Fiorentina defence to recover. Italiano scored a magnificent second goal. He
ran half the length of the pitch before smashing a shot in off the post.
Chiesa blew a great chance on the counter attack. Doardo pulled off a fine
save to deny Leandro. Chiesa scored in injury time with another of his
awesome free kicks.

Attendance : 17,700
Assists : Adailton, ?


VICENZA				2-1			REGGINA
Zanchi 64, 86						Marrazina 52

Marrazina gave the away side the lead against the run of play with an
outstanding Van Basten style volley from the right side of goal. Zanchi
cleverly beat his marker to Bernardini's corner by throwing him on the ground
and headed Vicenza level. His second was an awesome header from another
Bernardini corner, this time from the left wing.

Attendance : 14,500
Assists : Zanchetti, Bernardini (x2)


5 MAY 2001

BOLOGNA			1-1 			UDINESE
Olive 25							Alberto 38

Olive headed the opener from Signori's corner. Bertotto launched a throw-in
into the box, everyone missed the ball, everyone apart from Alberto, 1-1.
Olive, Cruz, Signori and Lima had chances in the second half but Udinese
held on.

Bologna are still on course for a UEFA Cup spot and Udinese, who were at
one stage in the season top of the table, could still be dragged into a
relegation dogfight.

Attendance : 22,500
Assists : Signori, Bertotto


LECCE				0-3			BRESCIA
							Baggio 5, 59,
							78 (Pen)

Baggio's recent form hasn't gone unnoticed by Round A defenders. He was
surrounded by three of them when he scored his first goal. Fortunately one of
them passed him the ball and he beat Chimenti at the second attempt. Baggio
scored his second direct from a corner. If he meant to do it (it's possible)
then it's one of the goals of the season. Emmanuel Filippini, who could have
had a couple of goals himself, went down in the box and Baggio completed his
hat-trick from the spot.

Attendance : 18,708
Assist : E Filippini