Serie A Round 31

17 April 2005

BOLOGNA	1-2	LAZIO
Giunti 14		Oddo 54 (Pen)
		Rocchi 74

Former Juventus midfielder Federico Giunti beat ex Juve team-mate Peruzzi with a deflected free kick. Giannichedda, looking for his first goal in five years, was body checked by Gamberini in the box and Oddo equalised. Giannichedda split the Bologna defence with a great toe poke, Pagliuca rushed off his line, Rocchi, who has a get engine in his shoes, flew past and shot into an empty net. Someone threw a flare on the running track. Apparently the rule is the ref has the option to take the players off the field and issue a warning. If a second flare is throw the match is abandoned. Peruzzi came up big with a stunning late save from Cipriani. Attendance : 16,000 Assist : n/a, Giannichedda (won pen), Giannichedda

BRESCIA	1-0	ATALANTA
Di Biagio 94 (Pen)

An absolutely ridiculous penalty decision sent Atalanta back to the bottom of the league at Brescia's expense. Rivalta slipped as he tried to intercept a ball, Vonlanthen ran past him and dived, Rodomonti pointed to the spot. Calderoni saved Di Biagio's weak spot kick but Rodomonti made him retake it for encroachment and this time he scored. It's a good job zero tolerance was introduced this week. Attendance : 12,000 Red Card : Rivalta 93 (Atalanta) Assist : Vonlanthen (won pen)

CHIEVO	2-0	PARMA
Marchesetti 67
Cossato 87

Bovo earned a second yellow card for body checking Pellissier. Chievo upped the pressure and went ahead when Marchesetti held off Cannavaro and smashed Zanchetta's longball past Frey. Cossato sealed the points with a superb header then stupidly got himself a second yellow for taking off his shirt. Attendance : 11,900 Red Card : Bovo 44 (Parma), Cossato 79 (Chievo) Assists : Zanchetta, Moro

INTER	2-0	CAGLIARI
Ze Maria 40
Martins 65

Martin got Inter the points after one of the worst misses of all time. He ran onto a loose ball and yards in front of goal shot on the turn and sent the ball horribly wide. It was more of a errant pass then a shot. Minutes later the Cagliari defence allowed him to turn on the edge of the box and Ze Maria slammed his centre past Iezzo. Martins ran onto a ball down the channel and made up 10 yards on Agostini before shoving him to the ground as he went past, he rode a suicidal lung from Iezzo before tapping in to make it 2-0 and with Cagliari's away form there was no way Inter were going to draw this one. Martins has to be THE quickest player in the World. Wait until he fulfils his potential. Attendance : 40,000 Assist : Martins, Favalli

JUVENTUS	5-2	LECCE
Appiah 16		Vucinic 7
Ibrahimovic 34, 43, 82		Dalla Bona 89 (Pen)
Nedved 55

Another great display of goalkeeping from Buffon. He rushed off his line to intercept a deflected shot, Pinardi lobbed the ball over him and Vucinic hit on overhead kick on the turn into an empty net. Lecce threw away the lead when attempting to play offside on the halfway line. Zeman must have been watching Juve's Champions League match, big difference this time was that the linesmen weren't blind. Appiah raced onto a deflected pass before taking out Sicignano with a great little dummy and lobbed in the equaliser. Giacomazzi missed a chance on the break before Zeman's offside trap gifted Juve a second. Camoranesi's pass deflected off the ref to Appiah, he sent Nedved through the centre he in turn passed wide to Ibrahimovic and the giant Swede shot first time low into the corner. Nedved made it 3-1 when cutting in from the left and letting rip from the edge of the box. Lecce had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, ironic especially in this match. Ibrahimovic completed his hat-trick with a fantastic low curling shot inside the post. Konan jumped into the back of Cannavaro to win a charity penalty which Dalla Bona converted emphatically. Shame Juve didn't play like this against Liverpool. Zeman is a complete idiot, high offside traps went out with Betamax. Attendance : 21,050 Assist : Pinardi, n/a, Camoranesi, Nedved, Tacchinardi, Nedved, Konan (won pen)

LIVORNO	2-0	FIORENTINA
C Lucarelli 12 (Pen), 42


More terrible officiating in this match. Bertini awarded Protti's theatrical dive with a penalty. Lucarelli hammered the ball past Lupatelli then with Fiorentina piling forward Livorno hit them on the break, Protti hit a brilliant pass upto Lucarelli and in slow motion he turned Dainelli inside out before finding the left corner again. Livorno are almost certainly safe. Big spending Fiorentina, who shouldn't have been promoted to Serie A in the first place (they were in Serie C last season) are in deep, deep shit. Attendance : 18,000 Assist : Protti (won pen), Protti

SIENA	2-1	MILAN
Rui Costa 72 (og)		Crespo 62
Cozza 86

Tudor snuck into the box and headed Alberto's cross against the bar. A mistake by Maldini let in Chiesa but Dida made a stunning point blank save and Maldini got back to clear. Shevchenko seemed certain to score from a corner before Alberto's incredible intervention. Early in the second half Chiesa flashed a shot wide of a post. Manninger made a great save from a Rui Costa drive then punched out a Cafu cross, Gattuso pulled down the ball brilliantly before lobbing over the defence to Crespo who, from a tight angle, shot between Manninger's legs, super finish. Gattuso hammered a shot against the underside of the crossbar. Stam mistimed his jump on a corner and the ball fell for Chiesa, he hammered against the inside of a post then sent the rebound towards the centre of the net and while trying to clear Rui Costa slammed in off a post. As Milan pushed forward Siena did them on the break, former Inter defender Pasquale supplied the cross for Cozza to send a bullet header past Dida's near post. Manninger tipped away a late Serginho free kick to deny Milan a point. Attendance : 15,000 Assists : Gattuso, n/a, Pasquale


16 April 2005

ROMA	1-2	REGGINA
Chivu 24		Franceschini 72
		Bonazzoli 83

Chivu gave Roma the lead with an amazing goal from 35 yards. It was like a free kick, curled into the top corner only he did it on the run. Even taking into account there's a massive difference between striking a moving ball and a static ball I'm surprised other dead ball specialists don't attempt these type of shots. Curci spilled a shot from Bonazzoli and Franceschini slid in the rebound. Bonazzoli turned on a long ball and shot into the corner. Roma maybe five places ahead of Reggina but only a point separates them. Attendance : 38,000 Assists : Totti, n/a, ?

SAMPDORIA	1-0	PALERMO
Flachi 91 (Pen)

Rodomonti began what proved to be a terrible week for Italian officials for awarding a last minute penalty (on the advice of his linesman) when Grosso put his arms in front of his face and turned away as Flachi connected with an overhead kick. Palermo are threatening the linesman with legal action. That should be interesting. Attendance : 25,000 Assist : n/a