Posts Tagged ‘Bologna’

Bologna 1-3 Fiorentina: Adrian Mutu Caps a Milestone Week-End (Serie A Matchday 22)

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

Without a doubt, the last couple of days have been “milestone time“. Raúl scored his 307th goal for Real Madrid on Saturday (equalling Alfredo Di Stefano all-time topscoring record). The following day, Lionel Messi put his name on Barcelona’s 5000th league tally, and today in Serie A’s postponed match between Bologna and Fiorentina, Adrian Mutu increased his Italian personal count to 100. “Records are meant to be broken” indeed.

But speaking of Mutu, his double does not only give Fiorentina three very valuable points; it also confirms La Viola’s position at the 5th spot of Serie A standings. Just to prove that whenever the Romanian striker’s around, Prandelli’s boys are really capable of reaching the heavens.

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Why Beckham Should stay in Milan, and Why the Galaxy Should Let Him

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

David Beckham, age 33, AC Milan

I’m going to break from my usual match previews and football betting tips for this week’s article.  I feel it is a good time to talk about why David Beckham should stay in Milan and indeed why LA Galaxy should grant him his move to the Northern Italy capital.

As a player Beckham is a great work-horse type player and despite his obvious ability he continues to work as hard as anyone for his team.  On countless occasions I’ve watched Beckham pull on an England shirt and be the only player putting in any kind of effort at all.  His career has taken him from Manchester United to Real Madrid and after spending some time in America I feel it is a perfect time for him to move back to Europe.

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Serie A Matchday 20: Juventus vs. Fiorentina & Napoli vs. Roma to Whet the Appetite…

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

The first round of the 2008-09 Serie A campaign just ended last week, and with Matchday 20 at our doorstep it is time to try something different. In my last previews I’ve focused solely on one match; this week I think it is to expand our horizons and look at several of the bigger fixtures in Italy’s top flight league. If you’ve been following my football betting advice so far, you might be doing okay. I haven’t got a score correct yet but I thought AC Milan would draw at Roma and then beat Fiorentina, which they did but only by one goal (I went with 3-1).

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Bologna 1-1 Roma: Totti and Cicinho, the Two Faces of Roma… (Serie A Matchday 11)

Monday, November 10th, 2008

The good news? Francesco Totti is back. The Roma captain celebrated his 400th Serie A appearance by scoring a beauty on Saturday, and while he may still not be perfectly fit (his running efforts are limited, and he’s still not confident enough to take players on one one) his passing game and ball control can do without the stamina element. His goal was once again class & technique exemplified.

The bad news? Roma still isn’t “there”. And I’m not just talking about the mind-boggling own goal scored by Cicinho in stoppage time. If there’s anything that Saturday’s match showed, it’s that Roma’s midweek win over Chelsea (as good as it felt) did little to solve all the problems the Giallorossi have been struggling with since the season started. With the good news limited to the positive performances by Juan, De Rossi and Totti, this team seems to be cruelly lacking ideas: Spalletti’s game plan never really took off and the players’ contribution overall was average. Oh and also? Doni got injured.

As for Bologna, they played their hearts out. Despite some very evident problems in midfield, the Rossoblue created more scoring opportunities than the visitors, and in extra time of the second half managed to give their new manager, Sinisa Mihaijlovic (of Inter Milan and Roberto Mancini-assistantship fame) something to smile about in his Serie A coaching debut.

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Inter 2-1 Bologna: Ibrahimovic and Adriano Powering Inter Into the Lead (Serie A Matchday 6)

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Ibrahimovic has many nicknames… among the self-explanatory “Ibrahimagic” and “Ibracadabra”, even “Zlatan!” seems like something a magician would say before he pulled a rabbit out of a top hat (kinda like “Shazam!”). Inter first goal vs. Bologna Saturday night, illustrates just how appropriate the Ibrahimovic-Magic association can be: a marvelous mid-air backheel execution that few players would attempt, and that even fewer would get right. Until tonight, the last one among the elected greats was a certain Roberto Mancini

More important than Ibra’s magic, was the way Inter played on Saturday. To quote Gazzetta, “Inter are back winning and winning convincingly.” The final 2-1 result over Bologna wasn’t a true reflection of how well Inter played, certainly improving on their recent bleak peformances against AC Milan and Werder Bremen.

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