2 November 2008
ATALANTA 0
LECCE 0
Attendance : 11,500
Red Cards : Valdes 67 (Atalanta)
Assists : n/a
CAGLIARI 5 (Acquafresca 45, Conti 48, Acquafresca 52, Jeda 69, Jeda 85)
BOLOGNA 1 (Di Vaio 19)
Di Vaio embarrassed Marchetti with a speculative drive which beat him at his near post. Acquafresca beat his marker to head in a half time equaliser. Cagliari took full advantage of Bologna's inability to deal with crosses to score a further three headed goals in the second half. The exception being Jeda's thumping drive from a half cleared corner.
Attendance : 10,500
Assists : Rodriguez, Cossu, Matri, Cossu (ck), n/a, Agostini
LAZIO 1 (Foggia 85)
CATANIA 0
Attendance : 40,000
Assist : Zarate
PALERMO 3 (Miccoli 23 Pen, Kjaer 37, Cavani 46)
CHIEVO 0
Yepes pushed over Palermo's teenage centre back Simon Kjaer to concede a penalty which Miccoli despatched with trademark efficiency. Chievo rallied and hit both the post and crossbar before Kjaer gave Palermo breathing space with his first goal in only his third appearance for the club, leaping in the air to meet Miccoli's corner with a spectacular mid-air volley. Cavani completed a first half rout on a textbook counterattack. Palermo broke from a corner. Nocerino released Cavani with a fabulous first time pass over the Chievo defence, Cavani took the ball on his chest and feigned to shoot, dropping Sorrentino, before tapping into the corner. Palermo's chances of scoring more goals ended when Bresciano was shown a second yellow for a late foul on Bentivoglio. He should have been sent off for his first foul on the midfielder, a disgraceful studs up kick aimed at Bentivoglio's knee.
Attendance : 19,076
Red Card : Bresciano 47 (Palermo)
Assists : Kjaer (won pen), Miccoli (ck), Nocerino
SAMPDORIA 1 (Bellucci 85)
TORINO 0
Attendance : 21,000
Assists : Padalino
SIENA 1 (Kharja 75)
FIORENTINA 0
Attendance : 13,000
Assist : Galloppa (ck)
UDINESE 2 (D'Agostino 4 Pen, Quagliarella 78)
GENOA 2 (Milito 64 Pen, Sculli 67)
Criscito grabbed Floro Flores by the scruff off the neck and hauled him down to concede the most blatant of penalties. Di Natale was on the bench and D'Agostino successfully took over spot kick duty. Udinese were understandably furious when Tagliavento pointed to the spot after Lukovic and Vanden Borre went shoulder to shoulder in the box. Milito followed up his sixth goal of the season with another assist, heading down for Sculli to send a rasping half volley past Handanovic. Despite being sandwiched by two defenders Quagliarella found room to hook a right foot volley into the opposite corner of the net. A remarkable finish, assuming there wasn't a deflection.
Attendance : 14,000
Assists : Floro Flores (won pen), Vander Borre (won pen), Milito, Pepe
MILAN 1 (Denis 86 og)
NAPOLI 0
Bonera underhit a pass out of defence, Maggio intercepted, Lavezzi picked up possession, turned Favalli inside out and stung Abbiati's palms with a low drive. Kaka' snuck in on the left side of the Napoli defence but played a poor centre into the box, the ball deflected back to him off Santacroce and he lashed the rebound high into the stands. Denis took a pop from the edge of the box, Abbiati fumbled, Bonera tried to clear as Abbiati attempted to smother the ball, it bounced off Lavezzi, who had run in from behind, and trickled towards goal but Bonera cleared. Maggio was shown a second yellow for shoving Jankulovski as he ran onto a Kaka' pass though there didn't appear to be a great deal of contact.
Milan took full advantage of their extra man and laid siege to the Napoli goal. Iezzo made a marvellous save to tip Ronaldinho's close range effort to safety. Ronaldinho and Santacroce jumped in for a 50-50 ball fortunately neither of them made contact however the Brazil born Italy defender landed hard on his left knee and was substituted. Iezzo dived at Pato's feet as he attempted to make contact with Borriello's centre then made a miraculous one handed save to deny Borriello on the follow up. Kaka' struck the outside of a post with a right footed shot from the edge of the box, Zambrotta overhit the rebound, Ronaldinho's shot bounced back to him off a Napoli player, his shot was then charged down, he touched the ball back to Kaka', Iezzo fumbled and as Inzaghi was about to pounce he kicked the ball clear. Unbelievable. Pato managed to head a Kaka' free kick wide from 2 yards out. Another Kaka' effort took a deflection before creeping wide of Iezzo's right post. On 85 minutes Milan were awarded a soft penalty when Kaka's cross hit Pazienza's right arm, the defender has his back to play. Kaka' took the penalty but was denied by another fantastic save from the veteran goalkeeper though he had stepped off his line. A minute later Milan won a free kick way out wide left of goal. Ronaldinho whipped a superb cross into the box and Denis slammed a header into his own net.
This match invoked memories of some legendary contests between the two sides when they fought over the scudetto in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Milan suffered and made hard work of victory despite getting every break imaginable - Maggio's red card, the penalty and late og. Ronaldinho was his usual frustrating self, over-dribbling, indulging in circus tricks which none of his team-mates read and his free kick delivery, until the 86th minute, was terrible BUT he ultimately decided this match, just as he decided the Milan derby and sends Milan clear top of Serie A for the first time in four years.
Attendance : 55,000
Red Card : Maggio 43 (Napoli)
Assist : n/a
1 November 2008
REGGINA 2 (Cozza 34, Brienza 53)
INTER 3 (Maicon 9, Vieira 24, Cordoba 91)
Ibrahimovic rode a tackle from Reggina's left back before centring a perfectly weighted for the onrushing Maicon to shoot first time past Campagnolo. Ibrahimovic and Quaresma linked up for the second, the Portuguese winger skipped over a tackle before releasing the overlapping Vieira with a lovely disguised pass and Paddy drove the ball through Campagnolo's leg to give the triple champions what should have been an unassailable lead. Cozza pulled a goal back from a corner, via a deflection off Balotelli. Brienza sucked in a defender before finding Corradi with a clever back heel, Corradi scrambled to his feet after being fouled, Barreto took the ball off him passed into Brienza who fired a perfect low drive on the turn past Julio Cesar. It's rare to see him beaten from distance. Carmona threw away a point with a poorly directed clearance from a corner, Cordoba lashed a half volley into the bottom corner to earn Inter their first victory in three games.
Attendance : 18,000
Assists : Ibrahimovic, Quaresma, n/a, Barreto, n/a
JUVENTUS 2 (Del Piero 38 fk, Marchionni 48)
ROMA 0
As Del Piero lined-up to take a free kick a good 35 yards from goal I thought there's no way he's scoring from that far out and CRACKERJACK , the ball flew into the top left corner. Brilliant, even better than his goal against Zenit St Petersburg. Riise failed to make a challenge on Marchionni as he ran onto a Del Piero pass and lobbed over Doni to score only his second ever league goal of an injury ravaged Juve career.
With four successive wins between the league and Europe, Ranieri's job is safe, Spalletti's however is hanging by a thread. The Roma bus was attacked by 100 fans on it's way back from Turin.
Attendance : 21,700
Assists : Chiellini (won fk), Del Piero