Posts Tagged ‘Diego Milito’
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
In many ways a new year of Serie A doesn’t truly begin until it features one of thee Big Matches. It is often said that over the course of the season it’s the the “little games”, those against teams battling for relegation, that pave the road for a championship title. Often true, but the “little games” certainly are not those everyone is waiting to see. And thanks to Lega Calcio’s new fixture drawing system, this year we have the opportunity to see two ‘Big Games’ as early as Matchday 2, starting with Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina.
And what a derby it was. With 4 goals against their most bitter rival this match featured a true display of power by Inter Milan, highlighted by the shining performances of Thiago Motta, Eto’o, Diego Milito and with and a clear clear message to their harshest critics: Zlatan who?
As for Milan, to quote Gazzetta Inter were “giants without an adversary”. AC Milan cannot hide behind their good performance of today’s first 15 minutes. A team which completely disintegrates both tactically and psychologically (see Gattuso’s red card) at the first sign of trouble cannot, for lack of a better phrase, call themselves a “team”. At least for the moment. Until Leonardo figures out a solution out of this mess.
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Tags: AC Milan, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Inter Milan, José Mourinho, Leonardo, Maicon, Serie, Thiago Motta
Posted in Inter, Milan, Serie A | 7 Comments »
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Everyone expected the Inter vs. Milan derby to be an epic showdown, but ironically Serie A’s biggest entertainment this week-end came from Genoa vs. Fiorentina. Although to be fair to both teams, this match had already been anticipated as a “Champions League” battle: a showdown between 4th and 5th-placed usually always gives rise to interesting results.
But who on Earth could have predicted six goals and one of the most dramatic come-backs of the year, an equalizer deep into stoppage time and everything. Not only that, but the added bonus of a “hero” (these matches usually have at least one): the one and only Super Adrian Mutu who marked a top-notch performance with the first hat-trick of his Italian career.
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Tags: Adrian Mutu, Cesare Prandelli, Diego Milito, Fiorentina, Genoa, Gian Piero Gasperini, Raffaele Palladino, Serie A, Thiago Motta
Posted in Fiorentina, Genoa, Serie A | Comments Off
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
As a Bianconero, big disappointment lingers in my mind after Wednesday’s Serie A action. Not only did an unrecognizable (and Del Piero-less) Juve lose away to Udinese, but Inter Milan‘s concurrent win over Catania (and AC Milan‘s draw to Genoa) restores the Nerazzurri’s +6/+8 lead, leaving us to wonder if the current order of the top three Serie A teams will ever change again.
Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, but I’ve been following the soccer scene for quite some time now and I’ve got this hunch: usually during a title race, when the top team loses some ground only to regain it the following week, they are keeping their lead till the end. I’ve got no scientific or tactical evidence to support this theory, it is what it is: a hunch. But based on my previous years of Serie-A watching experience, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Juve vs. Parma and Juve vs. Inter title races of the late 90′s.
Secretly of course, I want to believe otherwise…
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Tags: AC Milan, Antonio Di Natale, Carlo Ancelotti, Catania, Claudio Ranieri, David Beckham, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Fabio Quagliarella, Genoa, Gian Piero Gasperini, Inter, José Mourinho, Juventus, Pasquale Marino, Serie A, Udinese, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Walter Zenga, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Posted in Catania, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Serie A, Udinese | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 8th, 2008
11 yellow cards and 58 fouls committed. Derbies can be a hard-fought affair, but one has to wonder after how many fouls a game stops being a soccer match and turns into a boxing competition.
The 99th edition of the Derby della Lanterna, opposing the two main teams from Liguria and one which had been eluding the Rossoblu for 7 years, went to Genoa on Sunday. It was set to be a battle between Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano, the two ex-Liga players and the real protagonists of their respective teams so far this season. Talentino put all his heart into it, but in the end El Principe prevailed.
In the fifth minute of the second half, Genoa took a free kick on the right side of the pitch, and centered the ball towards the penalty box. On the receiving end, Diego Milito sent the Genoa supporters into ecstasy, a fantastic header ending right into Castellazzi’s top corner. And while Genoa triumphed, Sampdoria can have many regrets on the two disallowed goals for their side (in particular Fornaroli’s).
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Tags: Diego Milito, Genoa, Gian Piero Gasperini, Sampdoria, Serie A, Walter Mazzarri
Posted in Genoa, Sampdoria, Serie A | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 14th, 2008
915 days, aka two years and a half since May 14, 2006: that’s how long Juventus had to wait to breathe top-ranking air in the Serie A again. Granted, it’s an ex-aequo lead for now, and too bad if those sharing 1st place with the Bianconeri are eternal rivals Inter Milan (set to clash at San Siro on November 22). This, and Juve’s seventh consecutive win (the fifth in Serie A) must sure feel good for Claudio Ranieri, who not even one month ago was seriously linked with the backside of the president’s boot.
On Thursday (for Serie A’s early matchday 12 encounter) Juve’s victims were Genoa, beaten with a (perhaps too) severe score of 4-1, goals courtesy of Grygera, Amauri, Iaquinta, and an own goal by Papastathopoulos. Genoa played well in the first half despite ending 2-0 down, but their wastefulness in front of Alex Manninger’s goal cost them dearly: after the break the Rossoblu lost whatever grip they had, worn down by the combativeness of an omnipresent Giorgio Chiellini and the talent of the ever-present Alessandro Del Piero (who may have not put his name on the scorers, but was capital in pulling the strings of well-directed passes for his teammates). Diego Milito saved face for the visitors, thanks to a penalty shot after a Legrottaglie handball.
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Tags: Amauri, Claudio Ranieri, Diego Milito, Genoa, Gian Piero Gasperini, Juventus, Serie A, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Zdenek Grygera
Posted in Genoa, Juventus, Serie A | 1 Comment »
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