20 December 2009
That five matches had to be cancelled due to bad weather is a damning indictment of the state of stadiums in Serie A. Under soil heating meant the pitches weren't an issue but the seats and pathways in the stands were iced over, the open nature of Italian stadiums means they are at the mercy of the elements and another reason fans stay away.
INTER 1 (Eto'o 14)
LAZIO 0
Attendance : 50,000
Assists : n/a
JUVENTUS 1 (Salihamidzic 66)
CATANIA 2 (Martinez 23 Pen, Izco 87)
Juve hit a new low with their fifth defeat in their last six games. Tiago stretched Spolli's shirt to tearing point to concede a penalty. What an idiot. Martinez had to take his penalty twice but made no mistake one either occasion. As the players walked off at half time a Catania player brushed against a large placard adorned with Juve's sponsors, it fell down. It sums up Juve's season perfectly. Marchisio, not Cannavaro, gave a team-talk at the start of the season half. He should have walked for an appalling challenge on Carboni. Salihamidzic, a first half sub for the awful Melo, showed more fight than his team-mates and took advantage of poor defending to equalise. Andujar and Trezeguet collided when challenging for a cross. Trezeguet's mother was looking on in horror from the stands as her son received treatment. He continued with strapping on his head. Juve were threatening to take all three points but fell to a counter attack. Plasmati controlled a longball on his chest before releasing substitute Izco with a fabulous reverse crossfield pass, Izco who has NEVER scored a goal in his five years as a pro, left Cannavaro for dead and lobbed wide of Manninger. Ridiculous. Juve couldn't fashion a chance in the six minutes of injury time and the ref ignored Salihamidzic's attempts to win a penalty.
I don't know who is worse at dealing with Brazilian players, Ferrara or Mark Hughes.
Attendance : 21,000
Assists : Spoli (won pen), Diego, Plasmati
LIVORNO 3 (Rivas 39, Danilevicius 47, Danilevicius 93)
SAMPDORIA 1 (Cassano 15)
Pazzini showed no ill effects from Mozart's crude foul from behind, he headed on a longball to Cassano who naturally put himself in on goal with a fantastic first touch, ran at the 'keeper and before a covering defender could make a challenge gently poked the ball inside the left post. Rivas (on loan from Inter) headed din the equaliser from a Candreva free kick. The Livorno fans throw a flair on the pitch to celebrate so Serse Cosmi walked over to calm them down. Pieri overhit a cross into the box, Raimondi rescued the ball, headed it down to Danilevicius who controlled before shooting past Castelazzi. Sampdoria were threatening an equaliser, with Pazzini twice denied by last ditch blocks, but their hopes of getting back into the game went up in smoke when they lost Stankevicius to a second yellow card. In the third minute of injury time Mozart threaded a ball between two defenders, Marchini ran onto it and pulled back a centre which Danilevicius blasted into the roof of the net.
Attendance : 9,122
Red Card : Stankevicius 68 (Sampdoria)
Assists : Pazzini, Candreva fk, Raimondi, Marchini
NAPOLI 2 (Hamsik 7, Quagliarella 87)
CHIEVO 0
Sorrentino brought down Denis with an insane sliding tackle and was lucky not to be dismissed. Hamsik converted. Bogliacino turned away from a challenge in his own half before hitting a fantastic 60 yard ball over the top of the Chievo defence, Quagliarella took the ball on his chest before slotting into the bottom corner.
Attendance : 60,000
Assists : Denis (won pen), Bogliacino
PALERMO 1 (Cavani 40)
SIENA 0
Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Balzaretti
ROMA 2 (Burdisso 48, Brighi 91)
PARMA 0
Amoruso attempted to back heel clear a cross from a short corner with predictably disastrous results - Burdisso slammed the ball into the bottom corner. Parma sprung their offside trap with two Roma players yards offside however Brighi wasn't and he thumped Vucinic's pass over Mirante.
Attendance : 36,899
Red Card : Paci 86 (Parma)
Assists : n/a, Vucinic