9 January 2011
SAMPDORIA 2 (Pozzi 58 Pen, Guberti 83)
ROMA 1 (Vucinic 17)
Vucinic nutmegged Lucchini as he attempted to close him down, looked up twice towards Menez who was making at break for the far post and was still looking in that direction as he flashed a shot past Curci at his near post. Clever. Speaking of clever Juan wasn't, he sold his 'keeper short with a hospital pass, Palombo raced onto the ball and into the box, Julio Sergio brought him down to concede the penalty and earn a red card. Juan shrugged off Macheda as Mannini swung in a cross, he should have put the ball into row Z but a sloppy touch was seized upon by former Roma winger Guberti who poked the ball between Doni's legs. Borriello, who has the mobility of an ice cream van, made no attempt to go around Lucchini and ran straight into the defender to get him sent off. Referee Rocchi continued to favour Roma when he showed Gastaldello a second yellow for challenging Vucinic for a high ball with a raised foot even though he made no contact with the striker, who ran past before putting on the breaks and facing play.
Attendance : 22,801
Red Cards : Julio Sergio 55 (Roma), Lucchini 86 (Sampdoria), Gastaldello 91 (Sampdoria)
Assists : Greco, Palombo (won pen), n/a
BARI 0
BOLOGNA 2 (Ekdal 38, Di Vaio 69)
Ekdal, perennially on loan from Juventus, touched Ramirez' reverse pass into the far corner. Di Vaio ghosted onto a pass between two defenders and beat Gillet at the second attempt.
Attendance : 16,000
Assists : Ramirez, n/a
CATANIA 1 (Gomez 71)
INTER 2 (Cambiasso 74, Cambiasso 79)
With better finishing Catania would have been three goals to the good but Maxi Lopez hit every shot straight at Castelazzi. He had a fourth effort blocked on the line by Stankovic but Gomez blasted in the rebound. Inter levelled three minutes later, Catania's defence lazily appealed for offside as Cambiasso shot Stankovic's through ball past Andujar and he headed in the winner from an indefensible Maicon cross.
Attendance : 15,089
Assists : n/a, Stankovic, Maicon
CESENA 0
GENOA 0
Attendance : 13,857
Assists : n/a
CHIEVO 0
PALERMO 0
Attendance : 9,800
Assists : n/a
FIORENTINA 3 (Gilardino 72, Santana 86, Ljajic 88)
BRESCIA 2 (Diamanti 30, Cordova 49 fk)
Kone, who despite his surname is actually white and Greek, played a ball out wide to Diamanti who had a perfect angle for a cross but he opted to cut inside the box and struck an extraordinary left foot shot which sailed over the frame of the goal before dropping inside the left post. Stunning goal. Cordova's late first half free kick wasn't too shabby either. Gilardino, who had taken up some excellent positions and gone close on a number of occasions, finally scored when Sereni failed to make a routine save from a header. The crap 35 year old former Ipswich goalkeeper parried a tame Babacar effort straight to Santana at the back post, 2-2. Ljajic clipped a cross into Gilardino who, with his back to play, jumped in the air and volleyed the ball square to Ljajic who switched feet before crashing the ball it into the roof of the net. This time Sereni wasn't at fault but Brescia need to replace him if they are to have any hope of staying up, he's shit.
Attendance : 20,842
Assists : Kone, Eder (won fk), Montolivo, n/a, Gilardino
LAZIO 1 (Mauri 48)
LECCE 2 (Muslera 39 og, Grossmuller 72)
Jeda ran onto Stendardo's poor clearance and gave it a whack, the ball bounced off the left post then off Muslera's back and into the net. Mauri scrambled in the equaliser from a Ledesma free kick. Zarate wasted a great chance to put Lazio in front then as he chased down another ball over the top Lecce's goalkeeper Rosati did a Schumacher and came off his line with his knee raised then turned into him with a hip check. It should have been a red card. Fortunately Zarate wasn't injured. He recovered to clip the woodwork direct from a corner and Lecce countered to score the winner. Corvia was first to the rebound and carried the ball out of defence before spreading the play out wide to Mesbah, he released Vives who had made an excellent overlapping run, Corvia back-healed his centre and Grossmuller slammed a first time shot into the bottom right corner. A classic counter attack. Grossmuller's first in Serie A. Lecce carved open Lazio on the break and almost scored a third, in a frantic four second spell Biava made a brilliant overhead kick clearance to prevent Jeda's shot bouncing over the line, Tomovic headed the rebound against the crossbar, Jeda touched the ball back to Grossmuller as Muslera dived at his feet, Biava kicked Grossmuller's shot off the ball off the line and Tomovic blazed the rebound over.
Attendance : 25,000
Assists : n/a, n/a, Corvia
MILAN 4 (Pato 46, Benatia 78 og, Pato 82, Ibrahimovic 92)
UDINESE 4 (Di Natale 35, Sanchez 53, Di Natale 66, Denis 89)
Sanchez tried his luck from distance and his shot caught the inside of the left post (Abbiati would have saved it) and Di Natale was surely offside when he put away the rebound. Ibrahimovic, who else, got Milan back on level terms when he drifted inside the box and squeezed a ball through for Pato to equalise. Isla played a one-two with Sanchez down Milan's left before swinging in a cross and midget Sanchez got in front of the awful Bonera to score with a diving header. Seedorf, who had another dreadful game, gave away the ball and Udinese countered, Di Natale stepped inside Bonera and curled a low shot inside the right post. 1-3. Benatia got his head to an inswinging Thiago Silva cross and the ball looped up over Handanovic. Thiago Silva strode into the Udinese half and passed to Cassano who took one touch before angling a pass between two defenders to Pato who left the ball roll between his legs before turning, sending his marker the wrong way, and scored with a left foot shot. With Milan committed to scoring the winner Udinese went back in front on the break. Pato was fouled on the edge of the Udinese box and the visitors raced downfield as he appealed in vain to the ref, Isla centred, Bonera failed to get tight on substitute Denis and he poked a ball over the poorly positioned Amelia. Ibrahimovic headed a Bonera long ball to Cassano who played him in with a fabulously weighted pass through Zapata's legs, Ibrahimovic trapped the ball with his right foot before changing direction, sending Isla sprawling, then tapped the ball inside the left post. Milan almost won it at the death but Abate was denied by a desperate sliding tackle.
This was a wake-up call ahead of the Champions League clashes with Tottenham. Amelia is a sub standard back-up to Abbiati and Bonera is a shocking centre back. Spurs wingers will take him apart if he's still first choice back-up to Nesta and Thiago Silva which after today would seem unlikely given so far Allegri has been very quick to address any of the teams failings. Milan are apparently close to signing Lazzari from Cagliari which will spell the end for Pirlo and Seedorf, who is only playing because of the formers injury and Cassano's lack of match fitness. Unless Allegri is willing to give Yepes and Montelongo a chance they need to sign a centre back as well and a back-up goalkeeper.
Attendance : 39,405
Assists : n/a, Ibrahimovic, Isla, Inler, n/a, Isla, Cassano, Cassano
PARMA 1 (Giovinco 54)
CAGLIARI 2 (Acquafresca 22, Acquafresca 32)
Continuing this week's theme a poor clearance lead to the opening goal. Paletti headed a cross out to the edge of the box and Acquafresca fired a left foot shot into the bottom corner. His second goal was a sweetly struck half volley through a defenders legs into the bottom right corner. Giovinco, who has a resemblance to a young Joe Cole, chested down a longball (!) and attempted to pass back to a team-mate but hit Nainggolan instead, he turned onto the rebound, dribbled past two players then curled a shot wide of Agazzi. Great goal.
Attendance : 12,185
Assists : n/a, Cossu, n/a
NAPOLI 3 (Cavani 20, Cavani 26, Cavani 53)
JUVENTUS 0
Napoli bounced back from their defeat at Inter with a ridiculously routine victory over Juventus. Cavani ran between Krasic and Grygera to send Maggio's cross bouncing past Storari. Juve were robbed of an equaliser when Toni got above De Sanctis to head in a corner, the ref whistled for a foul on the 'keeper, who took an knock to the face because Toni beat him to the jump. Chiellini went in hard on Lavezzi on the edge of the box but play continued and the ball was eventually passed wide to Dossena, Cavani got above Arsenal reject Traore, who was making his first league start, to head in his second. He made it a hat-trick of headers when diving low to head in Hamsik's centre.
Attendance : 60,000
Assists : Maggio, Dossena, Hamsik