Perugia Humiliate Inter

Inter suffer a humiliating away defeat to a Ze Maria inspired Perugia. Rivaldo
sends Milan 3 points clear at the top of Serie A. Claudio Lopez and Fiore
maintain Lazio's challenge. Roma's misery continues as they fall to relegation
strugglers Atalanta and Juve thrash Chievo in the evening match thanks
largely to the referee.

19 January 2003

CHIEVO				1-4		JUVENTUS
Cossato 72					Trezeguet 11, 68, 86 (Pen)
						Del Piero 20 (Pen)

I was surprised this match wasn't called mid way through the first half, the fog
even by Italian standards was horrendous. Trezeguet poached his first when
Lupatelli failed to hold Del Piero's free kick. Del Piero converted a penalty
awarded when Nedved was pulled down in the box. Juve were gifted a second
penalty when Camoranesi dived in the box. Del Piero smashed the ball against
the crossbar. Nedved and Del Piero combined to give Trezeguet an easy second.
Cossato scrambled in a consolation goal after Moro's header came back off the
crossbar. The ref continued his favours first with a red card for Bierhoff for what
exactly I don't know then he awarded a THIRD penalty to Juve when Di Vaio
ran into Moro and fell down. Trezeguet duly completed his hat-trick from the
spot.

Chievo have made a habit of self destructing against Juve but the ref Racalbuto,
who is a complete crook, sure as hell did his best to help them on the way to
defeat.

Assists : Nedved (won pen), Del Piero, Di Vaio (won pen)
Red Card : Bierhoff 76 (Chievo)


ATALANTA			2-1		ROMA
Doni 40						Totti 9
Tramezzani 86

A dream start for struggling Roma. Montella squared a long ball for captain
Totti and he stabbed over the line for his 11th of the season. Emerson earned
himself a second yellow for checking Dabo. Capello was sent off for protesting
over a challenge which saw Berretta plough through Delvecchio. The Roma
defence then ball watched as Siviglia fired a cross into the box and Doni, a
target for Roma last summer, rifled in the equaliser. Samuel made a fantastic
tackle in the box to deny Atalanta a second after Pelizzoli spilled a free kick.
In a move which sums up Capello's philosophy, he substituted his only match
winner (Totti) for defender Cufre and was deservedly punished for such a
heinous display of cowardice when Siviglia touched a free kick to Tramezzani
and he drilled the ball inside the post.

Attendance : 18,000
Assists : Siviglia, Siviglia (free kick)
Red Cards : Emerson 21 (Roma), Capello 32 (Roma)


LAZIO				2-1		UDINESE
Lopez 27					Muzzi 40
Fiore 46

Lopez open the scoring by finishing off a great move. Corradi, Pancaro and
Fiore hit consecutive one touch passes, Fiore's disguised pass was confidently
met first time by Lopez. Muzzi pounced on a deflected cross to equalise but Fiore
restored Lazio's advantage on the stroke of half time from another deflected
cross. Pinzi should have done better when slack defending left him one on one
against Peruzzi. Alberto was sent off for caressing Corradi's face or something.
Pizarro failed to take advantage of a typically penetrating run by Jorgensen
when he blazed over from 10yds.

Attendance : 45,000
Assist : Fiore
Red Card : Alberto 80 (Udinese)


MILAN				2-1		PIACENZA
Pirlo 54 (Pen)					Gurenko 52
Rivaldo 69

Dida made a fantastic double save first from Boselli's header then on the rebound
from Cardone's spectacular overhead kick. Milan suffered a major blow when
Gurenko hacked through Serginho. He was immediately substituted for Seedorf.
The rough challenges continued until the ref dished out some yellow cards.
Guardalben made a phenomenal save from a Rivaldo header and the ball
rebounded off Pirlo to safety. Gurenko volleyed Piacenza into the lead only for
Pirlo to equalise minutes later from the spot after Inzaghi took a tumble in the
box. Pirlo tried to dribble through the entire Piacenza defence, as he was tackled
the ball broke to Rivaldo he took a step before shooting into the corner beyond
Guardalben. 

Attendance : 50,000
Assists : Tosto, Inzaghi (won pen)


MODENA				0-0		BRESCIA

The third successive 0-0 draw Brescia have been involved in. They really do
know how to suck the life out of a match and have had a detrimental effect
on Serie A's goals per game ratio this season. For that reason alone I hope
they go down.

Attendance : 14,700


PERUGIA				4-1		INTER
Ze Maria 9 (Pen)					Vieri 79 (Pen)
Vryzas 34, 63
Fusani 55

As shocking as this result was, it was nowhere near as shocking as the new
advert for saratoga silicone (bathroom/windows etc, etc) oh my and in early
evening as well:) You can see LESS of the model here :

http://www.saratoga.it

Anyway back to the match. Perugia were awarded a penalty when Cordoba
handled in the box. He has a habit of doing that but this wasn't blatant in
anyway, shape or form. Ze Maria almost tore a hole in the net with a seriously
powerful strike. Zanetti found Vieri with an excellent defence splitting pass
but he blazed over. Toldo handed Perugia a second when he let Grosso's
free kick slip through his fingers. I'm not convinced Vryzas got a touch.
Kalac bravely blocked Vieri as he bore down on goal and a stunning tackle
denied Kallon on the rebound.

Early in the second half Fusani, who was left in acres of space in the box,
pulled down Ze Maria's cross before volleying past Toldo. Perugia took the
absolute piss on their fourth goal. Man of the match Ze Maria hit a 40yd pass
to Miccoli, he took the ball wide of Toldo but wasn't placed to shoot on goal
so waited for Vryzas to arrive before slipping the ball past Cannavaro and
Vryzas shot between Toldo's legs. Di Biagio was sent off for sliding in on
Fusani with studs showing, horrible foul. Christian 'M.I.A.' Vieri converted a
penalty he won by throwing himself over Kalac's hand.

Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Grosso (fk), Ze Maria, Miccoli, Vieri (won pen)
Red Card : Di Biagio 71 (Inter)


TORINO				0-0		COMO

The highlight of this match was a spectacular goal wrongly disallowed for offside.
A Torino player dropped a free kick into the box, Ferrante juggled the ball before
volleyed past Brunner. Both teams had shots cleared off the line.

Attendance : 15,000


18 January 2003

PARMA				2-0		EMPOLI
Gilardino 13
Mutu 82

Gilardino sent a looping header over Berti. Tons of chances at either end which
isn't surprising given how crap the defences are. Thick fog engulfed the pitch
in the second half. Somewhere in this mess Adriano found Mutu and he
rounded Berti before tapping into an empty net.

Attendance : 13,000
Assists : Lamouchi, Adriano


REGGINA			1-0		BOLOGNA
Savoldi 15

Savoldi tapped in a rebound after Di Michele's shot came back off a post.
He should have scored a hat-trick and also been shown a red card for one
of the most blatant dives EVER.

Attendance : 23,000


R Mehdi