14 March 2004

JUVENTUS			1-3			MILAN
Ferrara 81						Shevchenko 25
							Seedorf 63, 74

Juve made a bright start. Nedved is not know for his prowess in the air and it
showed when he failed to trouble Dida after Appiah and Di Vaio served up two
excellent crosses. Nesta was substituted after 12 minutes with a muscle injury
but his replacement, Costacurta, wasn't troubled as Milan slowly took control of
the match. Kaka' stung Buffon's palms with a well struck first time shot from
Seedorf's excellent cut back. After both teams tried their luck from distance
Milan took the lead. Seedorf received the ball with his back to goal, he turned,
did a dragback to get away from Tacchinardi then sent a cross to the back post
which Shevchenko emphatically headed past Buffon. He could have had a first half
hat-trick. After controlling Cafu's cross on his chest he managed to touch the
ball away from a defender but blazed an admittedly difficult volley over the bar
then found himself free on the right as Milan caught Juve on the break but with
Kaka' and Inzaghi waiting for a cross he shot high over the bar.

Inzaghi spring Juve's offside trap but having rounded Buffon he shot horribly
wide with an empty net at his mercy. At once stage it appeared as if Milan would
lose Dida to injury but he managed to shake off whatever was troubling him.
Milan's pressure paid off when Seedorf's shot took a wicked deflection off
Ferrara to give them a deserved two goal lead. Shevchenko spurned another
chance, heading wide after the irrepressible Cafu put in another precise cross.
The 33 year olds invention was rewarded with the third goal. Deep in his own
half, Cafu played a one-two with Kaka' before bursting down the right flank,
Shevchenko's clever run took out Thuram allowing Seedorf time to measure his
shot before blasting past Buffon. Seedorf was substituted two minutes later,
Milan stopped attacking and sloppy defending from a corner allowed Ferrara to
grab a late consolation goal.

In light of his injury crisis Lippi was extremely foolish to make these comments
earlier in the week :

"Despite the many players out injured. Milan still fear us. I'd be worried if
they didn’t."

And typically he overplayed his teams efforts in this match :

"This team certainly didn’t do anything wrong and created plenty of chances
tonight but we were a little unlucky both with our efforts and Clarence
Seedorf's deflected goal."

"All we can do is accept the defeat and move on now, but credit also goes to
Milan for a great performance."

In contrast Ancelotti was, as usual, generous in victory :

"Juventus did very well, especially in the first half, and from this performance
I'd say they are far from dead and buried."

And refused to single out Seedorf for praise :

"When the team gets so many points then we can’t just look at a few individuals.
The whole squad works hard together and I love training them."

And spoke of the differences between this season and last season :

"This was a very important result, especially as we managed to beat most of the
big teams in a short space of time. Our secret right now is that we can defend
when needed and hold on to leads but the main difference from last season is
that we can turn up the tempo. We were a bit more careful to spread out our
energies during the first six months and that allowed us to remain fresh
even now."

Milan have now taken 31 points from their last 11 matches (10 wins, 1 draw) and
that includes away victories over Roma, Lazio and Juventus and also a home
victory over Inter.

Assists : Seedorf, Cafu, Camoranesi (ck)
Attendance : 52,000


INTER				0-0			CHIEVO

Karagounis' free kick cannoned off the top of the crossbar. Baronio's stinging
drive was excellently saved by Toldo. Marchegiani denied Inter the points with
a two excellent saves from Vieri and Martin's had a shot cleared off the line.

Attendance : 40,000


LAZIO				2-2			UDINESE
Muzzi 4							Castroman 10
Inzaghi 5						Iaquinta 93

Lazio raced into a two goal lead but as usual their defence let them down.
Speaking of which Oddo's splendid cross was met by Muzzi and less then a minute
later Inzaghi headed in Lazio's second. Former Lazio midfielder Castroman got
the merest of touches, if any at all, to head in Jorgensen's cross. In the last
minute Cesar conceded possession in his own half, Udinese launched a hail Mary
ball into Lazio's half, Mihajlovic, under pressure from Jancker, inadvertently
helped the ball on to Jankulovski and Iaquinta headed his cross into the net
having seconds earlier missed from six yards.

Attendance : 40,000
Assists : Oddo, Fiore, Jorgensen, Jankulovski


PARMA				2-2			BRESCIA
Carbone 4						Di Biagio 31
Marchionni 60						Baggio 74

While the Brescia defence were occupied with Gilardino, Carbone arrived to
put away Marchionni's cross. Chances were being spurned and saved left, right
and centre before Di Biagio headed in the equaliser. Marchionni put Parma back
in front after good work by Bonera and Carbone but Baggio made sure Brescia came
away with a point by scoring his 200th Serie A goal and, fittingly, it stood
alongside the numerous wonder goals he has scored throughout his career. He
received the ball on the edge of the box, took a touch to stop then sharply
turned to the left before skipped past a defender, leaving him face down
on the turf, and slotting into the bottom corner. Fantastic goal. The Parma
players congratulated him after the match.

Baggio may not have won as many honours as a player of his talent deserves but
he will be remembered more fondly than most.

Attendance : 15,000
Assists : Marchionni, Caracciolo, Carbone, Colucci


Serie A All Time Top Scorers List

1. Piola 274
2. Nordahl 225
3. Altafini 216
-. Meazza 216
5. Baggio 200
6. Hamrin 190
7. Signori 186
8. Batistuta 184
9. Boniperti 178
10. Amadei 174


PERUGIA				1-1			MODENA
Ze Maria 75 (Pen)					Vignaroli 17

Vignaroli's shot took a deflection off Di Loreto. Perugia should have been
awarded a first half penalty when Mayer tried to rip off Ravanelli's shirt. They
got one in the second half, this time Domizzi yanked Ravanelli's shirt. Modena
were clearly out to get Ravanelli and Mayer went through him with a foul from
behind, earning himself a second yellow. Hubner got one for diving.

Attendance : 10,000
Assist : Ravanelli (won pen)
Red Cards : Mayer 93 (Modena), Hubner 94 (Perugia)


REGGINA			0-0			ROMA

A very disappointing performance by Roma. Reggina actually had the best chance.
Nakamura slipped the ball wide to Di Michele and his brilliant first time
curling shot bounced off the crossbar.

Roma have dropped too many points against lesser teams. They have to learn 3
points against Inter or Juventus is just the same as 3 points against Reggina or
Ancona.


SIENA				3-2			ANCONA
Chiesa 20						Bucchi 28
Vergassola 44						Rapajc 58
Taddei 45

Flo showed superb touch to control a pass, turn and release Chiesa, Marcon got a
hand to the ball but Chiesa's shot was well struck. Bucchi went up for a cross
and was flattened by Siena goalkeeper Fortin but got enough of the ball to head
in the equaliser. Siena scored two stunning goals inside a minute. Vergassola
curled the ball inside the post from the edge of the box and seconds later
Taddei met Guigou's lobbed pass with a spectacular mid-air volley. Rapajc scored
a goal on the break and but for Fortin's excellent late save Ancona would have
came away with a point.

Assists : Andersson, Flo (x2), Guigou, Bucchi


13 March 2004

SAMPDORIA			3-2			BOLOGNA
Volpi 9 (Pen)						Signori 10
Diana 28						Nervo 68 
Cipriani 50

Signori cancelled out Volpi's penalty with a rare goal from open play. Diani
scored on a rebound after Pagliuca tipped Cipriani's header onto the bar and the
giant striker put Samp 3-1 up with a header. Nervo got Bologna back in the match
and Samp just about held on for the three points.

Assists : Bazzani (won pen), Bazzani


EMPOLI				0-0			LECCE

Attendance : 10,000

R Mehdi