5 December 2004

ROMA				1-1			SAMPDORIA
Totti 84 (Pen)						Pagano 81

Antonioli had an inspired game against his former club. Samp took the lead completely against
the run of play on a counter attack. Bazzani flicked on a cross, the wretched Panucci was, as
usual, making no one and substitute Pisano headed wide of Pelizzoli. The rubbish Tombolini
awarded Roma a penalty for shirt pulling. Totti converted to equal Roberto Pruzzo's record
as the clubs all time top scorer on 106 goals. Pruzzo was Serie A's top scorer three times
1981, 1982 and 1986. Samp almost stole the points at the death on another counter attack
when Flachi crashed a shot against the underside of the crossbar.

Attendance : 40,000
Assists : Bazzani, Dellas (won pen)


CAGLIARI			4-2			CHIEVO
Zola 33, 39 (Pen)						Pellissier 58
Langella 45						Amauri 87
Abeijon 59

Zola opened the scoring with a fantastic free kick then blasted a penalty past Marcon. Langella
scored a phenomenal third. Marcon punched out a corner to the edge of the D, Langella bounced
the ball off his knee before sending a half volley screaming into the net. Katergiannakis fumbled
Pellissier's snapshot before Cagliari restored their three goal lead thanks to a dreadful mistake
by Marcon. Amauri headed in a late consolation goal.

Attendance : 15,000
Assists : Langella (won fk), Esposito (won pen), n/a, n/a, Baronio, Luciano (ck)


FIORENTINA			1-0			BOLOGNA
Maresca 62

Attendance : 28,130
Assist : Miccoli (won fk)


JUVENTUS			2-1			LAZIO
Olivera 40						Pandev 10
Ibrahimovic 75

Muzzi headed a long ball back towards Pandev on the edge of the box, he went past Zebina
and Cannavaro, checked, sending Cannavaro crashing to the ground, dribbling past Thuram
towards a post before blasting the ball into the opposite corner of the net. Outstanding goal.
Juve, and Del Piero in particular, missed a ton of chances before Olivera equaliser with a bullet
header from Camoranesi's cross. He was substituted minutes later with a muscle problem.
Kapo's cross took deflections off two Lazio players and Ibrahimovic reacted quickly to volley
past Sereni.

Attendance : 20,787
Assists : Muzzi, Camoranesi, n/a


LECCE				3-2			LIVORNO
Rullo 39							Vigiani 30
Dalla Bona 55 (Pen)					Danilevicius 40
Giacomazzi 58

When a player runs half the length of the field and dribbles past several defenders to score it's
a great goal but this is the Lecce defence. Rullo equalised with a stunning left foot volley,
which dipped wickedly into the top corner. While the Lecce defence were appealing for offside,
on a deflected pass, the brilliantly named Bubblicious scored. Ok that's not his real name but it
should be. Having been robbed of two clear penalties Lecce finally got one when Alessandro
Lucarelli hauled down Audio Cassetti. Giacomazzi punished Galante's stupid clearance to hit
the winner three minutes later.

Lecce's first win in six games. Zeman's teams usually run out of gas in the second half of the
season. Maybe he should consider EPO.

Attendance : 11,414
Assists : ?, n/a, n/a, Cassetti (won pen), n/a


PALERMO			1-0			ATALANTA
Brienza 44

Attendance : 35,000
Assist : n/a


REGGINA			1-3			BRESCIA
Zamboni 74						Stankevicius 18
							Martinez 40
							Caracciolo 80

Stankevicius blasted Brescia into the lead following great work by Schopp. Martinez scored
a brilliant second late in the half. He latched onto a loose ball, took a few steps forward then
unleashed a shot into the top left corner from 25 yards. Reggina were threatening from set
pieces and got back in the match when Zamboni fired Colucci's free kick into the bottom
corner. Shortly after Bonazzoli missed a great chance to equalise Brescia's giant striker ran
between two defenders and surprised Soviero with a precise early shot.

Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Schopp, n/a, Colucci, Di Biagio


UDINESE			1-0			SIENA
Di Natale 16

Attendance : 15,000
Red Card : Pinzi 92 (Udinese)
Assist : n/a


4 December 2004

PARMA				1-2			MILAN
Gilardino 67						Kaka' 79
							Pirlo 89

All three goals were scored from set pieces. Gilardino, strongly linked with a move to
Milan next month, punished bad defending by Pancaro to head Parma into the lead
from a Bresciano free kick. Kaka' equalised with a tap-in at the far post and Pirlo smashed
home the winner after Parma blew several chances to clear a corner.

Attendance : 21,000
Assists : Bresciano (fk), Tomasson, Nesta


INTER				5-0			MESSINA
Adriano 3, 13, 36
Eleftheropoulos 55 og
Vieri 85

Needless to say Messina made a dreadful start. Adriano scrambled in the opener after just
three minutes. Inter lined up a free kick, everyone was expecting Adriano to take a
shot at goal but instead he ran onto Mihajlovic's pass, beat a defender then hit a low shot
inside the post. Adriano completed his first Serie A hat-trick with a tap-in from a corner.

Toldo was sent off early in the second half for chopping down Yanigisawa outside the box.
Mihajlovic's free kick rebounded off a post, hit Eleftheropoulos on the back of the head and
bounced back into the net. Carini saved a penalty. Vieri did well to stay on his feet when
Rezaei got a hard on for his shirt and blasted in the fifth.

There's a strong chance the golden boot awarded for Europe's top scorer will go to a player
from Serie A and most probably Adriano, baring injury. Serie A's top scorers usually average
more goals per game than the top strikers in other leagues but, stupidly, the rankings never
take the number of games played into consideration.

Attendance : 55,509
Red Card : Toldo 49 (Inter)
Assists : n/a, Mihajlovic (fk), n/a, n/a, Favalli

R Mehdi