18 April 2010
ATALANTA 2 (Adriano 6, Tiribocchi 68)
FIORENTINA 1 (Montolivo 75)
Adriano scored with a tremendous flick header from a deflected cross. Tiribocchi doubled his side's lead with THE goal of the European season. Capelli crossed from the right, the ball took a deflection off Adriano, Tiribocchi took a couple of steps past the penalty spot, leapt in air, corked his body and connected with a low angle scissor kick with looks better every single time you see it. Montolivo's goal was almost as good. Keirrison pulled back a cross from the touchline and the Fiorentina captain hit the back of the net with a textbook volley.
Attendance : 12,000
Red Card : Gobbi 56 (Fiorentina)
Assists : n/a, Adriano, Keirrison
BARI 1 (Almiron 75)
NAPOLI 2 (Lavezzi 28, Lavezzi 57)
With Serie A's already battered image taking another hammering following the new Calciopoli trials it's easy to forget why this league is great - the goals. Lavezzi collected a pass and stepped inside a defender before unleashing a missile of a right foot shot which swung out into the top right corner. What looked to be a menacing run from the absolute flop that has been Zuniga came to an end with an interception but De Vezze slipped as he was shaping to clear and Lavezzi blasted in his second. Almiron came off the bench to head in a consolation goal.
Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Hamsik, n/a, Alvarez
CAGLIARI 2 (Goian 28 og, Jeda 87)
PALERMO 2 (Miccoli 88, Hernandez 95)
Lazzari chased down a ball that was heading out of play and from the left corner flag hit a lovely out-swinging cross towards the edge of the D, Cossu, who was out of the picture, suddenly arrived and connected with a right foot volley which took a wicked deflection off Goian. Matri intercepted a lazy free and passed to Jeda who ran all the way from the halfway line before slotting past Sirigu. Within a minute a desperately heavy legged Palermo side pulled back what appeared to be a consolation goal. Cassani swung a cross into the box, Cavani, who was absolutely awful in the second half of the season, mistimed his header and Miccoli lashed home. What had been a tedious game to this point suddenly came to life. Marchetti made a brilliant save to deny Budan the equaliser while Matri should have finished off Palermo on a counter attack. Miccoli's last second cross came off the head of a Cagliari defender and Hernandez headed down to equalise.
Attendance : 10,000
Assists : n/a, Matri, Cavani, n/a
CATANIA 2 (Lopez 11, Biagianti 50)
SIENA 2 (Maccarone 49, Silvestre 69 og)
Biagianti cracked skulls with a defender as he flicked on a cross, Maxi Lopez showed great upper body strength to hold off Malago before shooting high into the net. Maccarone equalised with a superb header but Catania hit back within seconds. Biagianti intercepted an awful pass out of defence, played a one-two with Lopez and ran through to score. Ghezzal floored Morimoto to concede a penalty. Curci saved from Lopez and Cribari made an absolutely FANASTIC clearance to deny Capuano on the rebound. Vergassola forced the equaliser from a corner, his shot deflecting in off Silvestre.
Attendance : 18,106
Assists : Biagianti, Ghezzal, Lopez, n/a
PARMA 2 (Zaccardo 59, Bocchetti 62 og)
GENOA 3 (Palacio 33, Palacio 51, Fatic 73)
Zaccardo slipped as team-mate Paci ran to challenge him for the same loose ball, as Zaccardo scrambled to his feet he inadvertently passed to Palacio who shrugged off a challenge before curling a low shot inside the right post. Great finish. Mirante failed to hold a shot from the awful Palladino and Palacio tapped in his second. Zaccardo met a looping Lanzafame free kick with a towering header and three minutes later the home side equalised Scarpi made a brilliant point blank save from Bojinov, Bocchetti should have put his laces through the rebound but sliced it into his own net. Scarpi, who had a brilliant match, made another fine save from Lanzafame. Defender Fatic proved to be the unlikely match winner. Having just stepped onto the field he made an overlapping run onto a Mesto pass up Parma's left flank before cutting inside and beating Mirante with a ferocious drive from a stupid angle. It was the defenders first Serie A goal in only his second appearance.
Attendance : 16,895
Red Card : Guidolin 64 (Parma)
Assists : n/a, n/a, Lanzafame (fk), n/a, Mesto
SAMPDORIA 2 (Cassano 55 Pen, Pazzini 92)
MILAN 1 (Borriello 20)
Borriello headed Milan into the lead from a Mancini corner, the first notable contribution the Brazilian has made since his January move. His second was missing an open goal from six yards after Borriello drew out Storari and laid the ball on a plate. That miss sparked Sampdoria into life, two excellent Dida saves ensured the sides didn't leave on level terms at the end of the first half. Bonera was sent off for a horribly mistimed challenge on Cassano, who got up to score. Surprisingly Milan fought back strongly with Storari making a great save from Gattuso, Borriello miss-kicking when through on goal and Ronaldinho also going close. As usual though Milan ran out of gas and fell to a spectacular Pazzini diving header which finally killed off their tedious title hopes.
Attendance : 30,000
Red Card : Bonera 53 (Milan)
Assists : Mancini (ck), Cassano (won pen), Mannini
UDINESE 1 (Di Natale 91)
BOLOGNA 1 (Zapata 3 og)
Zapata volleyed a third minute corner past his own goalkeeper. A win would probably have ensured Bologna's Serie A survival but despite Viviano's heroics they couldn't hold out. Zapata punted a longball out of defence, Corradi flicked on, Asamoah centred and Di Natale plundered goal #24 of the season.
Attendance : 14,000
Assists : n/a, Asamoah
LAZIO 1 (Rocchi 14)
ROMA 2 (Vucinic 53 Pen, Vucinic 63)
Roma's narrow four man back-line were unglued by a simple, albeit precise, ball between Cassetti and Burdisso, Rocchi raced cleared to shoot past Julio Sergio. De Rossi and Totti started the second half on the bench and a minute later Roma's titles hopes appeared all but over when referee Tagliavento pointed to the spot after Kolarov took Cassetti up on the offer to go over his outstretched leg. Floccari fired the spot kick straight down the middle, Julio Sergio dived to his right but cleared with his legs. 5 minutes later master diver Taddei kicked out his legs under minimal contact and Vucinic exorcised the demons of last year's horrifically poor spot kick against Arsenal. Roma survived two counter attacks. Menez draw a free kick on the edge of the D and Vucinic blasted through the wall to send the Giallorossi back on top of Serie A.
In last weeks review I said this would be the mother of all Rome derbies and it was. In fact, if Roma go on to win the scudetto it will go down in history as the greatest Rome derby of all time.
Remaining Fixtures :
Roma : Sampdoria (H), Parma (A), Cagliari (H), Chievo (A)
Attendance : 70,000
Red Card : Ledesma 91 (Lazio)
Assists : Ledesma, Taddei (won pen), Menez (won fk)
17 April 2010
CHIEVO 2 (Pellissier 28, Abbruscato 88)
LIVORNO 0
Pellissier gave Chievo the lead with a thumping right foot drive. Elvis' tapped in a late second to kill off any hopes of a comeback and all but condemn Livorno to Serie B next season. They won't be missed, they're shite.
Attendance : 9,309
Assists : Luciano (ck), n/a
16 April 2010
INTER 2 (Maicon 75, Eto'o 93)
JUVENTUS 0
Sissoko was given his marching order for cutting down Zanetti. Maicon scored another magnificent goal. A free kick was cleared to the edge of the box, Maicon bounced the ball off his right thigh, flicked it over a Juve player as he leapt in the air to try and intercept, took a second touch on his thigh and thrashed a volley through a packed penalty area and inside the left post. Brilliant goal, brilliant player. Muntari's deflected cross left Eto'o with an easy tap in for the second. Mourinho ran onto the pitch pumping clenched fists as he celebrated. His reaction no doubt fuelled by a sense of injustice over the 'revelations' from the on-going Calciopoli trial.
Remaining Fixtures :
Inter : Atalanta (H), Lazio (A), Chievo (H), Siena (A)
Attendance : 40,000
Red Cards : Sissoko 37 (Juventus)
Assists : n/a, n/a