18 January 2009
ATALANTA 3 (Floccari 18, Ibrahimovic 28 og, Doni 33)
INTER 1 (Ibrahimovic 92)
On a heavy, rain sodden pitch Atalanta gave Inter a thrashing. Floccari pounced on a mistake from Maxwell. The Brazilian full back inadvertently headed a cross to the centre circle, Floccari held off Cordoba as he turned and shot past Julio Cesar. Doni thumped a free kick into the Inter wall, Ibrahimovic threw up his left hand to protect his giant nose, punching the ball into his own net. Five minutes later Valdes sent in a cross from the left and Doni got between two defenders to power home a header. Adriano came on for another goal shy striker (Crespo) and immediately made no impact. Ibrahimovic grabbed a late consolation goal at the second attempt after his initial effort was saved.
Attendance : 15,000
Assists : n/a, n/a, Valdes, n/a
CAGLIARI 2 (Conti 4, Biondini 20)
UDINESE 0
The pressure on Udinese coach Pasquale Marino after a ninth successive game without a victory lead to him being given the kiss of death i.e. the vote of confidence. Cossu touched on a free kick, Conti's shot took a massive deflection off Pasquale leaving Handanovic rooted. Cossu also made the second, he turned onto a throw in, crossed to the back post and Biondini arrived late to slam a volley into the bottom corner.
Attendance : 10,000
Assist : n/a, Cossu
CATANIA 1 (Paolucci 85)
BOLOGNA 2 (Di Vaio 49, Adailton 54)
Izco was sent off for a sickening foul on Bologna's Davide Bombardini. The midfielder jumped into Bombardini, stamping down on his left ankle. He should get a six game ban, at least. Miraculously Bombardini wasn't hurt. Bologna changed to a more attacking formation at half time and took the lead four minutes into the restart. Amoroso took advantage of slack defending in the Catania box to cross for Di Vaio to head in his 14th goal of the season. Zenga was sent to the stands for hurling abuse at the ref. Former prodigy Adailton doubled Bologna's lead from a Tedesco cross. Mascara missed a 68th minute penalty, his shot brilliantly saved by Antonioli. Bologna should have scored another two on the break before being caught cold by a quickly taken free kick, Italy youth international Paolucci lashing the ball past Antonioli from close range. Mihajlovic joined Zenga in the stands for hurling more abuse at referee Ayroldi.
Attendance : 16,000
Red Cards : Izco 37 (Catania), Zenga 51 (Catania), Mihajlovic 93 (Bologna)
Assist : Amoroso, Amoroso, Tedesco (fk)
CHIEVO 2 (Marcolini 32 Pen, Marcolini 74 Pen)
NAPOLI 1 (Lavezzi 53)
Bent referee Farina was up to his old tricks. He disallowed two goals for the home side and turned down a strong penalty appeal before pointing to the spot for a non foul on Pinzi. Marcolini sent Gianello the wrong way. Napoli equalised with their first attack. Gargano and Lavezzi combined down the left, the Argentinean playmaker dribbled past two players before angling a low shot past Sorrentino. Farina showed Hamsik a red for dissent then disallowed a THIRD Chievo goal. Chievo's sense of injustice was complete when Farina showed Morero a second yellow for an apparent foul. Farina ensured he got out of Chievo alive when he awarded another soft penalty to the home side.
Farina should not officiate another Serie A match. I've never liked the bastard.
Attendance : 9,378
Red Card : Hamsik 55 (Napoli), Morero 71 (Chievo)
Assist : Pinzi (won pen), Gargano, Bentivoglio
LECCE 0
GENOA 2 (Jankovic 69, Sculli 92)
An outrageous finish from Genoa's Serbian midfielder Bosko Jankovic broke the deadlock. A crossfield pass found Mesto in space on the right, he knocked a centre into Jankovic who was shoulder to shoulder with his marker, his right foot back heel flashed past Benussi at his near post. Juric ran clear of Lecce's offside trap and centred for Sculli to score an injury time second.
A third successive win for Genoa and all of them without the injured Milito. They're a good bet for a European place.
Attendance : 8,000
Assist : Mesto, Juric
SAMPDORIA 0
PALERMO 2 (Bresciano 45, Bresciano 58)
Nocerino passed to overlapping fullback Balzaretti and his first time cross was headed in at the back post by Bresciano. The Australian tapped in a second thanks to the brilliance of Cavani who is almost certainly going to follow in Toni and Amuari's footsteps in leaving the Sicilians. With a superb first touch Cavani, who was side on goal, turned away from his marker onto a centre and drilled across goal leaving Bresciano with an empty net.
At the whistle Cassano got into an argument with his own supporters.
Attendance : 22,000
Assists : Balzaretti, Cavani
TORINO 0
ROMA 1 (Baptista 92)
Baptista scored a fantastic late winner. Mexes hung a high cross into the box, Baptista bounced the ball off his chest, leapt in the air and hooked a scissor kick into the bottom right corner. Absolutely brilliant. That's three goals in a week for the Brazilian.
Attendance : 15,000
Red Card : Barone 92 (Torino)
Assist : Mexes
LAZIO 1 (Ledesma 24 fk)
JUVENTUS 1 (Mellberg 30)
Lazio won a free kick way out wide on the left wing. With Manninger expecting a cross to the centre he stepped off his line to punch away a ball that sailed over his head and bounced in off an unguarded right post. Rocchi drew a great save from Manninger and Pandev should have scored on the rebound but blazed over the bar. Mellberg equalised with a bullet header from Marchionni's corner. Juve should have been awarded a penalty when Lichtsteiner pulled down Amauri the box then quickly got to his feet to block from Nedved. Legrottaglie almost scored an unlikely winner when he ran onto a loose ball and hammered a volley against the outside of the right post.
Attendance : 60,000
Assists : Zarate (won fk), Marchionni
17 January 2009
SIENA 1 (Frick 75)
REGGINA 0
Attendance : 9,000
Assist : Portanova
MILAN 1 (Pato 7)
FIORENTINA 0
Attendance : 65,692
Red Cards : Jankulovski 91 (Milan)
Assist : Jankulovski
14 January 2009
ROMA 2 (Baptista 21 fk, Baptista 53)
SAMPDORIA 0
Julio Baptista doubled his goal tally for the season in a game rescheduled due to heavy rain with a brilliant brace. His first goal was a blistering free kick which curled up and over the Sampdoria wall before crashing into the bottom left corner. In the second half he nutmegged a defender before cutting in from the left, dribbled past another then beat Castelazzi with a precisely placed low shot.
Attendance : 32,000
Assists : Baptista (won fk), Pizarro