18 May 2014

CATANIA 2 (Lodi 66, Bergessio 92 Pen)
ATALANTA 1 (Kone 80)

Lodi played a one-two with an Atalanta player then Bergessio before slotting into the bottom corner. Denis smashed a shot against the crossbar and Kone tapped in the rebound. Bergessio converted a penalty for handball.

Attendance : 12,380
Assists : Bergessio, n/a, n/a


GENOA 1 (Fetfatzidis 83)
ROMA 0

Attendance : 28,000
Assist : n/a


JUVENTUS 3 (Silvestri 9 og, Llorente 15, Marchisio 40)
CAGLIARI 0

A Pirlo free kick cannoned off the crossbar, bounced OVER the line then hit Silvestri on the back of the head. It shouldn't have gone down as an own goal. Unofficially Pirlo's 26th Serie A free kick. Llorente scrambled in Juve's second from a corner before playing a part in the second best goal in Europe this season (Ibrahimovic's back heel flick volley obviously being the best). Lichtsteiner took a throw in and launched the ball towards Llorente, with his back to goal he bounced it off his chest then as he fell volleyed to his right, Marchisio ran towards it then spun around, flicked it over his head and the heads of two defenders with his right foot, turned to face goal then lashed a half volley over Agazzi.

Juve set a points record from the big leagues i.e. EPL, La Ligue and Ligue 1 (they only play 34 games in the Bundesliga because they have common sense) which would mean something had they not been so embarrassingly poor in the Champions League. They did win every league game at home which is a brilliant achievement. Alexis Sanchez is the player they're linked with the most but holding onto Vidal and Pogba is more important. Conte was dropping hints about leaving but has changed his mind which suggests to me he was fishing for a move but no one was interested. He may get a move to Russia or Ukraine or maybe Monaco but he's not going to get a huge job until he does something of note in Europe.

Attendance : 39,800
Assists : n/a, n/a, Llorente


CHIEVO 2 (Obinna 73, Obinna 90)
INTER 1 (Andreolli 41)

This was every man's worst nightmare - they day of what they call in Italy 'exes'. Chievo hit the woodwork before Andreolli, who left them in the summer, gave Inter the lead from a corner. Obinna turned the game on it's head with two late goals. He equalised with a shot from a ridiculous angle then smashed in the winner from 20 yards.

Mazzarri is the wrong man to take Inter forward. He has no faith in young players. It looks like Tom Ince will be joining, his dad of course had two brilliant years at Inter in the mid 1990s. More importantly Cambiasso, Zanetti, Milito and Samuel waved goodbye to the Inter fans at the end of the game, their last for the club.

Attendance : 10,000
Assists : n/a, Lazarevic, Drame


FIORENTINA 2 (Rossi 57 Pen, Rebic 79)
TORINO 2 (Larrondo 67, Kurtic 84 fk)

Up until Rossi scored a cheaply awarded penalty this had been an awful game but the goal brought Torino out of their defensive shell. Ten minutes later Larrondo slammed in a Cerci centre to equalise. 20 year old Croatian striker Rebic, who was only playing due to injuries, restored Fiorentina's lead with a tap-in after Cuadrado sprang a counter attack from a Torino corner. Kurtic equalised with a stunning left foot free kick. In the third minute of injury time Barreto dived to win a penalty but Cerci's awful spot kick was saved. He broke down in tears a minute later as Parma had grabbed 6th place by winning.

It's remarkable how much they cared about playing in the Europa League. I wonder if they'll feel the same way when they have to play in it.

The courts denied Parma UEFA licence for paying a €300,000 tax bill two months late so Torino are in Europe. Not that it means anything because Cerci and Immobile are almost certain to leave and without them Torino will tank.

Going forward Montella's teams are great, especially in light of the fact that Rossi and Gomez barely played together due to injury however Montella he does not value DMs and any coach who doesn't see the importance in having a defensive screen in midfield is an idiot. Cuadrado is being linked with a move to Barcelona. His speed and dribbling skills are off the charts.

Attendance : 31,000
Assists : Cuadrado (won pen), Cerci, Cuadrado, n/a


LAZIO 1 (Biglia 94 Pen)
BOLOGNA 0

Attendance : 6,000
Assists : Anderson (won pen)


MILAN 2 (Muntari 2, De Jong 27)
SASSUOLO 1 (Zaza 90 Pen)

Muntari blasted Milan into the lead with a stunning left foot shot that kissed the left post as it flew into the back of the net. De Jong doubled their lead with a free kick which almost certainly took a deflection. Mexes was lucky not to be sent off for a disgraceful two footed hack on Zaza - Berardi of all people confronted him then exacted revenge when he dived to earn him a red card. Clever. Cannavaro was sent off for kicking El Shaarawy, playing in only his second game after returning from injury. Valeri could not stop dishing out red cards so gave one to De Sciglio for bringing down Sansone for the penalty.

Milan have already held meetings with Inzaghi for the role of first team coach and he's requested Cerci, who would give Milan's one paced midfield some desperately needed speed. He's also one of THE biggest divers in football so will win loads of penalties, free kicks and bookings for the opposition.

Attendance : 39,000
Red Cards : Mexes 68 (Milan), Cannavaro 86 (Sassuolo), De Sciglio 89 (Milan)
Assists : Pazzini, Kaka' (won fk), Sansone (won pen)


NAPOLI 5 (Callejon 5, Zapata 13, Zapata 25, Mertens 62, Mertens 78)
VERONA 1 (Iturbe 66)

Napoli scored five goals for the second consecutive game. Callejon started the rout on five minutes with his 17th goal of the season. The Verona defence ball watched Zapata turn onto Mertens pass and fire in the second. With half an hour on the clock Napoli were three goals up, Zapata arriving at the back post to head in Callejon's cross. Mertens seized on Albertazzi's ludicrous hospital pass to score Napoli's fourth. Iturbe, bizarrely linked to Real Madrid, scored with another brilliant free kick. The boy has a hell of a shot on him. Mertens blasted in Napoli's fifth and his second from the edge of the box.

Zapata has had a strong end to the season, filling in admirably for Higuain. Napoli are no closer to the title, having spent over €100 million on transfers this season. Napoli's defence is the pits. Even if they address that there's still the Benitez factor - the man is a fool.

Attendance : 42,000
Assists : Mertens, Mertens, Callejon, n/a, n/a, Insigne


PARMA 2 (Amauri 63, Amauri 80)
LIVORNO 0

Amuari gave Parma the lead with a bullet header. A superb run and cross from Biabiany made his second, Anania saved his initial effort but he tapped in the rebound.

Parma would have done better in Europe than Torino and it's unlikely they would lose any of their star players - Cassano, Biabiany, Amuari or Paletta.

Attendance : 16,763
Assists : Cassano, n/a


17 May 2014

UDINESE 3 (Di Natale 26 fk, Di Natale 32, Di Natale 88)
SAMPODORIA 3 (Okaka 10, Eder 53, Soriano 55)

Okaka headed Sampdoria into the lead from a Gabbiadini free kick. Di Natale equalised with a picture perfect free kick into the top left corner. A slip in defence left a gaping hole for Pereyra to run into and he rounded ? before centring for Di Natale's second. Eder beat Udinese's offside trap to equalise and two minutes later he ran through the Udinese defence before playing in Soriano for their third. Wszolek's 50 yard hospital pass gift wrapped Di Natale his hat-trick goal.

Di Natale ruined what would have been one of the best final games of all time by reneging on his decision to retire after game. What a blithering idiot. There is no way any striker in his position could top scoring a hat-trick in his final game.

Attendance : 11,050
Assists : Gabbiadini (fk), Pinzi (won fk), Pereyra, Okaka, Okaka, n/a


TOP SCORERS
22 goals - Immobile (Torino)
20 goals - Toni (Verona)
19 goals - Tevez (Juventus)

ASSIST LEADERS
10 assists - Cerci (Torino)
10 assists - Totti (Roma)
9 assists - Gervinho (Roma)

CHAMPIONS
102 points - Juventus

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
85 points - Roma
78 points - Napoli

EUROPA LEAGUE
65 points - Fiorentina
60 points - Inter
57 points - Torino *

* Parma finished in 6th place but were denied a UEFA license due to a late tax payment.

RELEGATED
32 points - Catania
29 points - Bologna
25 points - Livorno

BEST ATTACK
80 goals - Juventus

BEST DEFENCE
23 goals - Juventus

WORST ATTACK
28 goals - Bologna

WORST DEFENCE
77 points - Livorno