A nice quiet weekend in Serie A. Fortunately, there were no matches of interest and no controversy that came out of the matches. Nothing unusual or interesting at all.
REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
Or not. In a weekend highlighted by the top two squads facing off, injuries to star players, and an odd mask celebration, let’s take a moment to look back on the insanity.
Nine is fine for Inter Milan
According to the poll at the end of my post, over 50% of you thought AC Milan would win by two goals or more. If we’d have known Inter would have played most of the match with ten men, how high would the percentage have jumped? Instead, it was i Nerazzurri who dominated the match despite Wesley Sneijder being sent off in the 26th minute and Lucio receiving a red card in second half stoppage time. Marco Materazzi, the famous “victim” of the Zdane head butt in the World Cup, celebrated by mocking the Italian prime minister with a mask. What a match.
Roma should enjoy its success
AS Roma’s 2-1 victory over Juventus may be its high point of the season. Roma sees itself in third place, only two points behind AC Milan for second place. But it also sees its new acquisition out for six weeks (Luca Toni) plus a daunting schedule ahead – while they have Inter and AC Milan at home, they have almost all of the top 10 clubs away. Roma’s away record: 3-5-3 while allowing 17 goals.
Napoli hangs on to fourth
Napoli’s 2-0 win over Livorno moves them three points clear of Palermo (!) for the last Champions League spot. However it took a penalty kick against a midfielder filling in for a keeper in the 90th minute to get the full three points. They have a chance to prove they belong with three of their next five matches against Genoa, Inter and Roma – all at home.
Bari blew a good opportunity to gain points
Do you think Giampieo Ventura will have nightmares about Henry Gimenez? Bari had an excellent chance (and an early goal) to take care of a relegation candidate in Bologna, but instead allowed two goals to Gimenez to fall into 11th place. Bari has to learn the lesson – if you want to compete for a European competition spot, you have to win these type of matches.
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Both Roma and Inter were fantastic, this was supposed to be the week where Milan and Juve came back to reopen the title race, but a powerful Inter squad and an organized Roma team stopped the two rivals. Napoli is really putting the pressure on Juve therefore making the situation worse…
well said nicolo, but juve is still at the top of my list