11 May 2014

ATALANTA 2 (Denis 67 Pen, Brienza 96)
MILAN 1 (Bellini 52 og)

Bellini deflected Muntari's centre into his own net in a half dominated by the home side. Carmona won the penalty with a ridiculous dive. Banana's were thrown at Constant, someone must have watched the Barcelona match and though it was a good idea. Deep into injury time Atalanta broke on the counter, Migliaccio touched a pass square to Brienza and his smashed a stunning first time shot into the top left corner. Brilliant, brilliant goal which should (hopefully) end No Country for Old men's prospects of European football next season and Seedorf's reign as coach.

Attendance : 14,000
Assists : n/a, Carmona (won pen), Migliaccio


BOLOGNA 1 (Morleo 79)
CATANIA 2 (Monzon 22, Bergessio 84)

A free kick was touched to Monzon and he drove a low shot inside the right post. Peruzzi was shown a soft yellow card. Morleo equalised with a stunning left foot volley which bent wickedly past Frison. Bergessio fired low past Curci to score the winner but both teams went down regardless. Paponi talked himself into a yellow card from the bench.

It's good to see the back of the racists Catania - they took the field with 8 Argentineans.

Attendance : 21,000
Red Card : Peruzzi 29 (Catania), Paponi 85 (Bologna bench)
Assists : n/a, Natali, Monzon


CAGLIARI 0
CHIEVO 1 (Dainelli 72)

Attendance : 4,900
Assists : Rigoni


LIVORNO 0
FIORENTINA 1 (Cuadrado 57)

Attendance : 9,776
Red Card : Borja 93 (Livorno)
Assist : n/a


SAMPDORIA 2 (Eder 30, Wszolek 88)
NAPOLI 5 (Zapata 19, Insigne 27, Callejon 32 fk, Hamsik 47, Mustafi 63 og)

Coppa Italia champions Napoli, sporting their surfer inspired kit, thrashed Sampdoria in a meaningless match. Zapata headed in a rebound. Insigne scored a great second thought it did appear as if Sampdoria goalkeeper Fiorillo dived out of the way. Eder rifled a shot in off a post but two minutes later Callejon punished more poor goalkeeping to restore Napoli's two goal lead from a free kick. Hamsik tapped in Zapata's centre at the back post. Germany international Mustafi turned Callejon's centre into his own net. 22 year old Polish (of course) winger Wszolek scored his first Serie A goal with an explosive left foot shot.

Attendance : 22,000
Assists : n/a, Callejon, n/a, Inler (won fk), Zapata, n/a, Eder


SASSUOLO 4 (Floro Flores 16, Biondini 66, Sansone 87, Floro Flores 89)
GENOA 2 (Calaio 40, Gilardino 76)

Floro Flores ran down a longball, turned a defender than smashed the ball past Perrin. Vrsaljko dived to win a penalty which Gilardino missed but Calaio headed in the rebound. Perrin was beaten at his near post by a Biondini header. Gilardino re-directed Cabaral's shot as Genoa equalised for a second time. Vrsaljko scored an own goal, I'm not sure how they're giving it to Sansone. Two minutes later Floro Flores guaranteed Sassuolo's remarkable escape act when he blasted in a rebound after Perrin parried from future Italy team-mate Berardi.

Attendance : 13,000
Assists : Berardi, n/a, Berardi, Cabral, Magnanelli, n/a


TORINO 1 (Immobile 42)
PARMA 1 (Biabiany 71)

Immobile was hero and villain as Torino throw away guaranteed European football with a draw. He chased down Paletta's awful hospital pass to put Torino into the lead. Immobile made the most of contact from Lucarelli to give Torino a man advantage but Glik's chopping two footed foul on Acquah lead to a collapse. Cassano missed the penalty but Biabiany converted the rebound. Immobile earned two stupid yellow cards within minutes, the second for diving.

Torino have reported Dortmund to FIFA for making an illegal approach for Immobile, which is ridiculous as he is owned by Juventus. He'll cost around €20 million. How times have changed - the Serie A top scorer is going to the Bundesliga. 20 years ago it was the other way round. Without hosting a major tournament, which is not on the horizon anytime soon, Italians clubs will go the way of Spain and be forced to sell off their best talent. It need not be the case because Inter aside no one has major debts, the domestic TV contract is one of the most lucrative in Europe and international rights fees are second only to the EPL. Terrible, terrible mismanagement.

Attendance : 16,000
Red Card : Lucarelli 64 (Parma), Immobile 74 (Torino)
Assists : n/a, n/a


ROMA 0
JUVENTUS 1 (Osvaldo 94)

Attendance : 39,000
Assist : Lichtsteiner


10 May 2014

VERONA 2 (Toni 14 Pen, Hallfredsson 54)
UDINESE 2 (Di Natale 56, Badu 91)

Agostini dived to win the opening penalty. Hallfredsson volleyed in Verona's second from Taleb's cross though Scuffet should have done better. Di Natale flicked up a cross, turned and volleyed over the consistently poor Rafael. Brilliant goal. Badu, on as a late sub, fired in a low drive to earn Udinese a share of the spoils and dent Verona's hopes of a Europa League place.

Attendance : 22,115
Assists : Agostini (won pen), Taleb, Pereyra, Lazzari


INTER 4 (Palacio 7, Icardi 34, Palacio 37, Hernanes 79)
LAZIO 1 (Biava 2)

Inter fought back to thrash Lazio despite conceding a second minute goal from a free kick. Kovacic found Palacio with a great through ball for the equaliser and played a near carbon copy for red hot Icardi. Palacio slammed home a deflected cross and Hernanes of course scored against his former club with a typically excellent shot from distance, Kovacic completing a hat-trick of assists.

This was Zanetti's retirement match and he marked the occasion by wearing an armband with all the names of his team-mates of the last 19 years - the likes of Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one), Baggio and Djorkaeff included.

Attendance : 64,718
Assists : Cana, Kovacic, Kovacic, n/a, Kovacic