The eternal Hernan Crespo has struck again, ending Fiorentina’s Coppa Italia run. While the Coppa Italia isn’t too interesting in the early stages, I really do enjoy it when it reaches the round of eight, like it has now. Maybe it’s due to the different mentality teams have when they play knockout football, and it occasionally produces spectacular last-minute goals.

Parma hosted Fiorentina in the round of eight of the Coppa Italia, and the match dragged deep into extra time with both sides creating chances, but Fiorentina having more. Fiorentina’s substitute Santana came on in the first half of extra time, and just six minutes from the end of extra time he produced a long-range goal. All of the Fiorentina team celebrated wildly, with Santana taking his shirt off, thinking that he had sealed Fiorentina a spot in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.

But a minute later, the eternal Hernan Crespo got on the end of Lucarelli’s header to volley right at the Fiorentina keeper Avramov. While it should’ve been a fairly simple save, Avramov let Crespo’s solid volley spill into the back of his net. After the late equalizer, Crespo popped up again just two minutes later with the winner. Avramov parried a shot, and Crespo’s predatory instincts took over as he rushed to tap the ball into the goal to make it 2-1.

So much emotion in just one match, hopefully the other round of eight Coppa Italia matches will be just as exciting. The next ones taking place are Inter – Genoa and Palermo – Chievo on the 11th of January. The day after Juventus will face Catania, and then on the 17th of January Napoli will face Bologna. Then on the 18th we have some very exciting matches, with Roma facing Lazio and Sampdoria facing Udinese. And the final match of the round of eight will be played on the 19th of January between AC Milan and Bari.

Plenty of exciting match-ups in the Coppa Italia, what are your thoughts regarding the competition? And what are your thoughts of Crespo’s magnificent double which puts Fiorentina out of the tournament? Comment below!

Inter Milan have won the Coppa Italia at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma in the final. While the 1-0 score-line might suggest a boring and defensive game, the match was full of excitement even after the 90 minutes.

The first few minutes of the match were characterized by Sneijder coming off injured after a heavy challenge from Nicolas Burdisso (on loan to Roma from Inter) and being replaced by Balotelli. After that Inter were always attacking, creating plenty of chances, and having a goal ruled invalid for a very close offside, Inter Milan eventually found the breakthrough. Diego Milito was released into the box and with three defenders on him he lashed a shot into the top left corner. The match was opened and full of action after the half with Juan missing an open goal, and other chances put to waste. Eventually in the 88th minute, the pressure was to much for Totti, and as Balotelli was cutting in towards the box, the Roma captain decided to kick the young Italian (with force) from behind. This resulted in Totti’s direct expulsion which he didn’t contest, Inter Milan finished the match off and claimed their 6th Coppa Italia in Roma’s stadium. Plenty of action happened after the match too, a fan ran onto the pitch and tried to attack Cambiasso, but was quickly stopped, and it was revealed that Balotelli had been provoking Totti during the match, causing the Roma captain to hoof the Inter Milan player.

With one down and two to go, it seems like Inter can really pull the treble off, all that’s missing is the scudetto and the Champions League. The title race is relatively straightforward for Inter Milan, as long as they win the remaining two matches then the title is theirs. The Champions League on the other hand is very different, Inter have to face a strong Bayern Munich team in Madrid, and although it will be difficult, it seems possible for Inter Milan to win the treble and make history.

It feels so strange to see Lazio just a couple points from the relegation zone, they won the Serie A in the 1999/2000 season, and to see them possibly relegated just ten years later seems very strange. Imagine Manchester United fighting relegation, it’s just not right. Meanwhile Bari are really pushing their limits this year, their first in Serie A, and with ten more matches to play, they’re just two points from the magical 40 points needed to survive. One of these two teams are two points from relegation, while the other is two from salvation, and the roles are inverted, but why is Lazio suffering so much this year, and why is Bari succeeding so much?

Bari seemed to be in a bit of trouble when they came up to the Serie A after coming first in the Serie B, their former coach Antonio Conte had left them in hopes of becoming Juventus coach, leaving the club without a manager. Eventually Giampiero Ventura was hired and he has inspired Bari to play fantastic football, extremely attacking one touch football stunned powerful Serie A teams that thought Bari would be a walk in the park. Their first match in the Serie A was a great 1-1 draw against the former champions Inter Milan, and from then on they’ve went on to push high up the mid-table regions. Only six points away from the Europa League, Bari have basically replaced Lazio, becoming a team that nobody wants to face.

Lazio on the other hand seemed ready to push for another great season, they reached the Europa League last season and they won the Coppa Italia. Everything was looking great, young prospects like Zarate, Kolarov, and Muslera littered the squad, and plenty of experienced players like Brocchi, Cruz, and Rocchi could guide the youngsters to great heights. But European football took it’s toll on the team, even if they went out in the group stages, they had to compete with powerful teams like Villareal and Salzburg, leaving the squad tired for crucial Serie A matches. Not only did they have this problem, but their president Claudio Lotito decided to freeze probably their two most influential players, Pandev and Ledesma, not allowing the two to play with the team because they didn’t want to renew with the club.  Because of all this, Lazio have only 5 wins the entire season, and for them to reach the salvation number of 40 points, they would have to scrounge out 14 points in 10 matches, a difficult task considering their form. Not only this, but the teams below them seem to be waking up, Livorno got an impressive 3-3 against Roma, and Siena came back from three down to draw 3-3 away against Juventus. Lazio will be among the relegation contenders, and I won’t be surprised to see them compete in Serie B next season.

It’s interesting the way roles have been reversed, Lazio used to be one of the hardest matches in the season for a team, and now they are weak and show little competitive spirit. Meanwhile Bari seemed to be lost with their manager switch, and instead teams fear facing the quick attacking style of Giampiero Ventura’s team. And while Bari fans will be celebrating a possible debut in Europe next season, it seems very possible that Lazio fans will be going to Serie B matches.

The quarterfinals of the 2008-09 Coppa Italia offered no surprises as the teams that were seen as stronger advanced to the semis.  The biggest story was Inter Milan getting revenge on 2-time defending champions AS Roma.  Roma beat Inter last year in the Coppa Final 2-1. This time the Nerazzurri defeated the Giallorossi by the same score. Here are the results:

 Udinese 1 – 1 Sampdoria
UDI: Di Natale (62′)
SAM: Pazzini (55′)
Sampdoria advances by PKs 4-2

 Inter 2 – 1 Roma
INT: Adriano (10′) & Ibrahimovic (62′)
ROM: Taddei (61′)

 Lazio 3 – 1 Torino
LAZ: Pandev (49′), Mauri (55′), Rocchi (90′)
TOR: Natali (29′)

 Napoli vs. Juventus
Game to be played on February 4th.

Semifinals
Inter vs. Sampdoria
Lazio vs. Napoli/Juventus winner