Archive for March 28th, 2008

Italian Players Around the World (24/03)

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Continuing my weekly article inspired by Gazzetta dello Sport, here are the performances of all Italian soccer players operating in foreign European leagues.

Luca Toni celebrates his double vs Leverkusen

Based on Gazzetta’s info, there are currently 22 Italians playing in first divisions abroad, and 10 of them stepped on the field this week-end.

The table below includes the team the player belongs to, their opponents for the week, the number of minutes they played, their contribution (goal, assist), and the final score of the game.
.

ENGLAND
Player Team Opp.
mins.
Contrib.
Score
Carlo Cudicini Chelsea Arsenal
90
/
2-1
.
SCOTLAND
Massimo Donati Celtic @Gretna
(N/A)
/
3-0
.
GERMANY
Luca Toni Bayern M. Leverkusen
90
2 goals
2-1
.
SPAIN
Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid Valencia
90
/
2-3
Giuseppe Rossi Villareal @Levante
(N/A)
/
2-1
Christian Abbiati Atl. Madrid @Sevilla
87
/
2-1
Gianluca Zambrotta Barcelona Valladolid
90
/
4-1
Enzo Maresca Sevilla Atl. Madrid
6
red card
1-2
Morgan De Sanctis Sevilla Atl. Madrid
(bench)
/
1-2
Emiliano Moretti Valencia @Real Madrid
(N/A)
/
3-2
Stefano Sorrentino Recreativo @Racing
90
/
0-2
Damiano Tommasi Levante Villareal
(injd.)
/
1-2
.
FRANCE
Fabio Grosso Lyon Paris SG
90
/
4-2
Flavio Roma Monaco @Caen
90
/
1-4
.
HOLLAND
Graziano Pellè AZ Alkmaar De Graafschap
90
/
0-0
.
BELGIUM
Roberto Mirri Mons St.Liege
90
/
0-2
Alessandro Pistone Mons St.Liege
(injd.)
/
0-2
.
SWITZERLAND
Stefano Razzetti St. Gallen @Grasshoppers
(bench)
/
3-2
Andrea Guatelli FC Zürich @Xamax
(bench)
/
1-3
.
POLAND
Stefano Napoleoni Widzew Łódź Legia
90
/
0-1
Joseph Oshadogan Widzew Łódź Legia
(N/A)
/
0-1
.
RUSSIA
Ivan Pelizzoli Lok. Moscow @Shinnik
(N/A)
/
2-1

 

Heroes of the week

Coming a little late this week, my “Italian Players Around the World” segment has the advantage there’s not a lot worth mentioning, save for Mr. Toni getting back to his usual in the Bundesliga.

Luca Toni, age 30In Germany last week-end, Bayern Munich were battling out at home against Bayer Leverkusen, a match-up between two former Champions League finalists and 1st vs. 3rd in the Bundesliga. Quite some time has passed since those glorious days, although if Bayern keep up their current form, they are certainly destined for more European glory in the near future (perhaps starting this year in the UEFA Cup?). Anyways, the match ended 2-1, courtesy of two goals by… who else? Luca Toni. For the first, the ex-Fiorentina striker exploited a good Ribéry-Klose combination to finish off with his foot, while for the second, the Italian giant connected a good Phillip Lahm cross with an accurate header, sending it out of the Leverkusen keeper’s reach. Toni has now 16 goals in the German league, leading the topscoring charts.

Enzo Maresca, age 28A small mention for the rather unfortunate Enzo Maresca. The ex-Juve and Fiorentina midfielder has been seeing moderate playing time at Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán this season, and things aren’t bound to improve over the next few matches. This time however, it won’t be the manager’s fault. Last week-end, Sevilla were hosting Atletico Madrid (featuring our gloved friend Christian Abbiati), and once again Maresca failed to start the match. In the 53rd minute with the score tied 1-1, Enzo came off the bench for Poulsen, but his match didn’t last very long. 4 minutes after the substitution, Atletico took the lead, and just two minutes after that, Maresca reacted to an Agüero clip from behind by headbutting the Argentine striker. Straight red, and probably a long suspension to follow. Odds are Maresca won’t be sticking at Sevilla for very long now.