10 May 2009

ATALANTA 1 (Valdes 9)
GENOA 1 (Criscito 90)

Atalanta stung Genoa on the counter. Floccari released Padoin with an absolutely magnificent pass and the midfielder kept his composure as Rubinho charged off his line and centred for Valdes to slide into an empty net. Floccari should have scored his 13th goal of the season but wasted a one vs one against Rubinho. Atalanta were bossing the game until Guarante was shown a second yellow for his second foul is as many minutes. Jankovic chipped a cross towards Milito at the back post, Milito completely miss-hit his volley but the bounce was kind and the ball was probably going to hit he back of the net but Criscito made sure.

Attendance : 10,000
Red Card : Guarante 74 (Atalanta)
Assists : Padoin, Milito


CAGLIARI 2 (Matri 34, Acquafresca 58)
ROMA 2 (Totti 63, Perrotta 69)

Cossu turned onto a throw in and slung a cross into the box, Matri, who was standing squat legged, almost constipated, in the penalty area, flicked his head at the ball as he turned and it looped over Artur inside his right post. Acquafresca put Cagliari 2-0 up following a comedy of errors. When attempting to put a ball out for a corner Cassetti sliced his kick and Fini leapt in the air to volley the ball back in play, Jeda headed across goal as Artur crashed and burned at his feet and Acquafresca tapped into an empty net. Totti seized on a defensive mistake at the other end to begin an unlikely comeback. Perrotta wriggled away from two defenders in a packed penalty area before finding the top left corner with a rising shot.

The draw means it is now mathematically impossible for Roma to qualify for the Champions League which is course great for Italian football.

Attendance : 18,000
Assists : Cossu, Jeda, n/a, Motta


CATANIA 0
FIORENTINA 2 (Jovetic 11, Zauri 93)

Jovetic scored his first Serie A goal from open play in the 11th minute. Gamberini hit a longball out of defence and the midfielder took the ball on his chest and possibly used his arm as well before beating Kosicky with a quick, low shot. Both teams played excellent football throughout and in the final minutes Zauri smacked in a second following a mix-up in the Catania defence.

Attendance : 18,000
Assists : Gamberini, n/a


CHIEVO 2 (Marcolini 27, Luciano 73)
INTER 2 (Crespo 3, Balotelli 65)

Crespo scored what should be one of his last Serie A goals, a tap in after Sorrentino spilled a shot from one of Inter's other rubbish Argentinean players - Cambiasso. Chievo's equaliser came completely out of the blue, Marcolini's left footed drive left Julio Cesar rooted to the spot. Inter should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Zanetti. Without checking it does appear as if they don't get a great deal of spot kicks. Balotelli restored his teams lead with initially appeared to be a fantastic volley though on closer inspect his shot took at least one if not two deflections off Mantovani. Passport faker Luciano arrived at the back post to side foot Mantovani's cross and earn Chievo what could prove to be a crucial point in their battle against relegation.

Attendance : 28,940
Assists : n/a, Bogdani, n/a, Mantovani


LECCE 1 (Zanchetta 44 Pen)
NAPOLI 1 (Pia 33)

Datalo, a January arrival from Boca Juniors, lead a Napoli raid on a counter attack. His clever disguised pass out wide to Pia lead to a desperate, collective appeal for offside as Pia recovered from a poor first touch to score his second goal of the season. Pierpaoli jobbed Napoli out of a long overdue victory with a ridiculous penalty call. A Lecce defender headed Giuliatto's corner against Cannavaro, the ball bounced off him and hit team-mate Mannini's arms and the ref, who was standing inside the box, decided that constituted handball despite the fact that Mannini had his back to play. Zanchetta accepted the referees charity to equalise. A mentally fragile Napoli crumbled in the second half but hung on for a point thanks to a couple of brilliant woodwork assisted saves from Navarro.

Attendance : 15,000
Assists : Datalo, n/a


SIENA 1 (Calaio 60)
PALERMO 0

Attendance : 15,000
Assist : Zuniga

TORINO 1 (Rosina 37 Pen)
BOLOGNA 1 (Di Vaio 86 Pen)

Torino took a deserved lead from the penalty spot after Castellini just about made contact with Rubin when challenging for a ball that was heading out of play. Rosina, who surely can't be at Torino next season, despatched his fourth penalty of the campaign. Torino created enough chances to win six games but paid the price for misfiring when Calderoni brought down Osvaldo to concede the game tying penalty. In injury time the crossbar prevented Colombo from scoring what would have been one of the all time great goals. Running in from right to left he leapt in the air at a 45 degree angle and connected with a volley on the outside of his right foot and the second the ball thundered against the underside of the crossbar Antonioli made an insane, back breaking, one handed save to claw the ball out of goal.

Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Rubin (won pen), Osvaldo (won pen)


MILAN 1 (Seedorf 57)
JUVENTUS 1 (Iaquinta 60)

But for a hat-trick of superb last ditch tackles by Flamini Juve would have been at least two goals to the good before Seedorf gave them the lead against the run of play. Former Juventino Zambrotta and Inzaghi sprung a counter down the left, Ambrosini horribly miscued Inzaghi's centre, slicing the ball past three Juventus defenders for the onrushing Seedorf to tap into an empty net. Three minutes later Camoranesi swung in a cross and Flamini was inexplicably picking up the giant Iaquinta who had little trouble holding off the Frenchman and heading past Kalac. No idea why he was in goal. Favalli was shown a second yellow for going through the back of Del Piero. He got his first booking for sucking.

In a week in which some sections of the Italian press speculated Ancelotti would be offered a new contract Berlusconi saved the day by publicly criticising him for his tactical mistakes and he deserves it. A Juve team that have been haemorrhaging goals should have been put to the sword.

Attendance : 78,979
Red Card : Favalli 85 (Milan)
Assists : Ambrosini, Camoranesi


9 May 2009

SAMPDORIA 5 (Dessena 2, Dessena 31, Delvecchio 36, Marliungo 46, Pazzini 56)
REGGINA 0

Italy U21 international Daniele Dessena, known more for his range of passing then his goalscoring, sent Samp on the way to their most comprehensive victory of the season with a 20 yard drive through a packed penalty area. Valdez was sent off for what the ref, the extraordinarily crap Trefoloni, adjudged to be a last man challenge. Dessena's second was almost a carbon copy of his first thought this time he aimed high and hit the roof of the net. Delvecchio headed in a Ziegler free kick. Guido 'the prodigy' Marliungo forced Puggioni into a point blank save with yes, you guessed it, a header then bundled the rebound over the line. Pazzini's punishing first time strike completed the rout.

Five goals and all this without Cassano.

Attendance : 22,000
Red Card : Valdez 19 (Reggina)
Assists : Palombo, n/a, Ziegler, n/a, n/a


LAZIO 1 (Rocchi 56)
UDINESE 3 (Floro Flores 60, D'Agostino 69 fk, Quagliarella 86 Pen)

Rocchi brought what had been a poor game to life with a great goal on the hour mark. He pushed away a defender as he turned onto a Zarate pass and hammered a shot past Handanovic. Floro Flores, who is an excellent foil for either of Udinese's strikers, equalised with a perfectly placed low drive. D'Agostino, who is almost certainly going to be wearing the shirt of one of Italy's top clubs next season, put Udinese in the lead with a magnificent left footed free kick which crashed in off Muslera's right post. Siviglia made an excellent goal-line clearance to deny Floro Flores a second goal but the striker got his own back by going to ground rather easily when the defender challenged him in the box minutes later. Brocchi was dismissed for dissent.

Attendance : 20,000
Red Cards : Brocchi 87 (Lazio)
Assists : Zarate, Pasquale, Asamoah (won fk), Floro Flores (won pen)