3 April 2011
NAPOLI 4 (Dossena 59, Cavani 61, Cavani 82, Cavani 88)
LAZIO 3 (Mauri 29, Dias 57, Aronica 68 og)
Mauri bulldozed his way through the Napoli defence onto a Zarate pass then toe poked inside the left post. Dias broke from a wall to volley in Lazio's second from a Garrido free kick. Dossena headed in a deflected free kick and two minutes later more awful awful set piece defending cost Lazio their lead. Dias headed a free kick towards his back post, Maggio headed it back across goal and Cavani pounced to level the score. Lazio were robbed of a third when Brocchi let rip from the edge of the box and the ball rebounded off the crossbar, a foot inside the goal and out but it wasn't given. Lazio however did get a slice of luck when De Sanctis parried a poor Zarate shot straight at the onrushing Aronica. Biava handed the initiative back to the hosts when he fouled Cavani to concede the penalty. Cavani completed his hat-trick with a near identical goal to the one he scored against Cagliari in the last round of games. Substitutes Lucarelli and Mascara headed on a longball, Cavani got goalside of Garrido then flicked a volley over Muslera. His 25th league goal and there's still seven games left.
Attendance : 60,000
Red Cards : Biava 81 (Lazio), Reja 90 (Lazio)
Assists : Zarate, Garrido (fk), n/a, Maggio, n/a, Cavani (won pen), Mascara
CATANIA 4 (Balzaretti 48 og, Bergessio 61, Ledesma 68, Pesce 77)
PALERMO 0
Maxi Lopez swung in a cross from the left, Balzaretti chested it down towards Sirigu, he dived off his line with Lodi approaching and missed the ball completely. Ricchiuti volleyed a pass over a suicidally high 1990s style offside trap, Bergessio raced clear and shot over Sirigu. Ledesma scored a scrappy third and Pesce put the icing on the cake with a glorious fourth. Running wide left on the half way line Marchese struck an awe inspiring crossfield pass towards Pesce, he let the ball bounce once before lobbing over Sirigu. Absolutely brilliant.
Serse Cosmi is a relic. The glory days of Perugia under their bent president, Luciano Gaucci are long gone as is Cosmi, who was sacked hours after this defeat.
Attendance : 19,136
Assists : n/a, Ricchiuti, n/a, Marchese
CESENA 2 (Jimenez 18, Caserta 86 og)
FIORENTINA 2 (Gilardino 35, Montolivo 69)
Jimenez opened the scoring against his former club with a fantastic right foot free kick from the left of the penalty box. Antonioli pulled off an extraordinary one handed save to deny Natale then Gilardino beat him with a crap header straight between his legs. Fiorentina scored a wonderfully crafted second. Vargas drove a low centre into Gilardino, he touched the ball to Santana who in turn passed to Montolivo and from the edge of the box he gently angled a first time shot inside the left post. Malonga went past Mutu on the counter rolled a centre to Caserta and his shot went in off Gamberini. Boruc made a brilliant save to deny Bogdani at the death.
Attendance : 17,876
Assists : Parolo (won fk), Vargas, Santana, n/a
CHIEVO 0
SAMPDORIA 0
Sampdoria are draw specialists so it was the most likely result however ?560,000 was placed on a draw ahead of this match (with only ?28,000 on a draw in the Milan derby) so rumours had been circulating all week that the game was rigged. More details here :
http://www.bettingexpert.com/blog/expect-match-fixing-in-this-weekends-serie-a
If it's confirmed this match, and Atalanta matches have been rigged, it would present an ideal opportunity for Lega calcio to throw out several clubs to the lower leagues and get back to an 18 team Serie A.
Attendance : 14,456
Assists : n/a
GENOA 0
CAGLIARI 1 (Acquafresca 16)
Attendance : 20,000
Assist : Biondini
LECCE 2 (Bertolacci 48, Bertolacci 65)
UDINESE 0
Lecce's 20 year old midfielder scored his third and fourth career goals in one of the shock results of the season and one that ends Udinese's title chances. Di Michele did the hard work for the first goal, cutting in from the left as Udinese were given a taste of their own medicine on the counter attack, he dribbled into traffic and the ball broke for Bertolacci who expertly placed a left foot shot wide of Handanovic. Zapata made a spectacular goal-line clearance to keep out an audacious lob from Jeda. The Brazilian wrestled with Domizzi as he ran in from the right flank before pulling back a centre for Bertolacci to complete his brace. Although Udinese hit the woodwork twice they were well below par. Lecce's journeyman coach, De Canio, was at Udinese for two years after replacing Zaccheroni in 1999.
Attendance : 10,200
Assists : n/a, Jeda
PARMA 1 (Amauri 80)
BARI 2 (Parisi 64, Alvarez 92)
Parma had all the chances, should have taken the lead four times and been awarded a penalty but fell behind to a Bari side playing in the same shade of scummer red as worn by Manchester United. Huseklepp touched a free kick to Parisi and he gave it a fearsome whack as it pierced the bottom right corner. Awesome shot. Bojinov missed a sitter but set up the headed equaliser for Amauri. In the last minute of injury time Bentivoglio poked a ball between Parma's centre backs and Alvarez flew past them before showing uncharacteristic composure in nutmegging Mirante to score the winner.
Irrelevant three points for Bari, they're still 11 points from safety. A win would have given Parma a two game cushion. Marino paid the price with his job.
Attendance : 18,347
Assists : Huseklepp, Bojinov, Bentivoglio
ROMA 0
JUVENTUS 2 (Krasic 59, Matri 74)
Storari made excellent first half saves from Vucinic, Totti and De Rossi. Grosso played a one-two with Matri as he ran into the box from the left, he feigned to cross, sending De Rossi, Burdisso and Juan hopelessly off balance, then clipped a delightful lob over their heads for the unmarked Krasic to volley into the corner. Matri drew out Doni when running onto a Grosso through ball, he passed the ball to Pepe who promptly shot straight at Doni with the net gaping. Idiot. Menez hit the woodwork before Grosso went Matri clear for a second time and, unlike Pepe, he made no mistake.
Attendance : 55,000
Assists : Grosso, Grosso
2 April 2011
BRESCIA 3 (Hetemaj 3, Zoboli 9, Caracciolo 66 Pen)
BOLOGNA 1 (Di Vaio 30)
Hetemaj met a glorious Zambelli cross with a bullet header, his second Serie A goal and he remains the only Finnish player to have ever scored in the Italian top flight. Zoboli headed in Brescia's second from a corner. Di Vaio, who still has blistering pace despite being 34, beat Brescia's square defence to ball over the top, dribbled inside a defender and shot in off Arcari. Britos should have been sent off for cleaning Accardi with a horrible two footed lunge. Caracciolo, who missed a spot kick against Inter last month, crashed the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.
Attendance : 7,000
Assists : Zambelli, Vass (ck), n/a
MILAN 3 (Pato 1, Pato 62, Cassano 90 Pen)
INTER 0
This was the first time since 1993 that a Milan derby had been contested with both teams in the top two positions. Milan scored seconds after kick-off. Pato looked to play a give and go with Gattuso on the edge of the box, Pato's run was checked but Robinho gave Maicon the slip, Julio Cesar made an excellent block that sent Robinho flying, Pato took a touch to control the rebound then fired into an empty net. Milan should have had a penalty when Maicon charged down a Seedorf shot with his arm. Pazzini had one, and only one, clear sight on goal, he got between Zambrotta and Nesta but Abbiati made an excellent point blank save. Van Bommel, who was once again brilliant for Milan, saw a speculative effort ricocheted off Chivu and clip the top of Julio Cesar's crossbar. Abbiati made one of the saves of this or any season, scrambling across goal to deny Ranocchia from a corner with strong two fisted save and Abate hacked the ball clear. Not for the first time this season Eto'o missed an open goal. Cambiasso flicked on a Pandev cross and Eto'o, free at the back post, shot wide. Unbelievable miss.
Pato, who wasted several counter attacks in the first half (nothing new there) ran clear of the Inter defence onto a Boateng through ball, as he cut inside Chivu to work a better angle, the Romanian appeared to trip him and was sent off. Julio Cesar made a brilliant save to deny Silva on the subsequent free kick. Robinho flicked a Pato centre back to Seedorf, he chipped a first time pass out wide to Abate, he controlled the ball on his chest before horribly miscuing his shot and Pato stooped to head in Milan's second. Julio Cesar made another fantastic save to deny Robinho. The Man City reject had another chance minutes later after Ranocchia cheaply gave the ball to Seedorf on the edge of the Inter penalty area, this time Robinho feigned to shoot, dropping Julio Cesar to his backside but as he shot Cordoba flew in to make a great block tackle. Cassano trapped a GLORIOUS Seedorf crossfield pass on his chest but before he could shoot Zanetti pulled him down to concede the penalty. Cassano earned his first yellow card to taking off his shirt in celebration though this was possibly done to show his trimmed down physique and his second for pushing Cordoba.
Looks like Leonardo couldn't get through to Mourinho at half time to give Inter their team-talk. Leonardo's record in Milan derbies, P4 L4 scored 0, conceded 10. Excellent. This result should eliminate Inter from the title race. They usually play like crap and win but with the added distraction of the Champions League and this result it's hard to see them make up lost ground on Milan and Napoli. A well rested Ibrahimovic will be back for Milan next week and just as significantly Inzaghi's return is imminent. Milan have a much harder run-in, with Udinese away in their last game, but also hold all the aces - in Nesta, Van Bommel, Ibrahimovic and Seedorf they've got the leadership needed in the home stretch. Inter's leader last season was their coach.
Attendance : 80,018
Red Cards : Chivu 54 (Inter), Cassano 92 (Milan)
Assists : n/a, Abate, Cassano (won pen)