Week-End Reviews

Here are the results and summaries for matchday 35. Full Video Highlights here. I apologize for the lack of full match reports this week-end but… I was otherwise occupied and hung over, I’m sure you’ll all understand.

Italian Calcio Blog week 35 review

Gazzetta in English week 35 review

MILAN, 27 April 2008 – Inter are now just a step away from the Scudetto. At three games from the end of the season, the Nerazzurri have still 6 points over Roma thanks to their 2-1 win against Cagliari, courtesy of Julio Cruz and Marco Materazzi (the Sardinian side could only reply through Davide Biondini’s consolation goal). Not very useful for Roma and their 4-1 win over Torino, where Gianni De Biasi picked up his second defeat as manager of the Granata. David Pizarro opened the score, Mirko Vucinic and Amantino Mancini (2 goals) completed the job before Nicola Ventola had a chance to score in the second half for Torino. Roma finished the game with ten players after Juan was sent off.

JUVE IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – However, Roma hold strong over Juventus. The latter have secured today a spot in the Champions League with their 5-2 win over Lazio. Giorgio Chiellini opened the score for the bianconeri after 33 minutes of play, followed by Mauro Camoranesi, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and another goal by Chiellini. Lazio came out more energised in the second half, as shown by Rolando Bianchi’s and Sebastiano Siviglia’s goals, but it was too little too late for the Biancocelesti who had to finish the game with 10 men, after Siviglia picked up his second yellow for a foul on Pavel Nedved.

MILAN CLOSE – The race for 4^th place is getting closer and closer as we approach the end of the season: four teams are within a margin of 6 points. Fiorentina‘s match against Sampdoria ended in a draw, with Bobo Vieri and Adrian Mutu scoring to neutralise in just six minutes (33′ and 39′ of the second half) the initial advantage achieved by Christian Maggio for the Blucerchiati. Fortunately for Sampdoria, Daniele Gastaldello’s header in stoppage time gave the visitors a valuable point from the draw.

Fiorentina’s tie was a beneficial result for AC Milan, victorious 4-1 today in Livorno with an inspired Filippo Inzaghi scoring three goals: Super Pippo now has a record goal average, with 8 goals in the last 4 games. Clarence Seedorf also contributed to the rossoneri score and Dario Knezevic is the author of Livorno’s only goal today.

Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella scored for Udinese and Juan Manuel Vargas’s goal wasn’t enough for Catania today. But the fight for a place in European competitions is not the only one in the standings: at the bottom, a few teams are still fighting for survival in Serie A.

AT THE BOTTOM – Livorno is alone at the bottom of the standings, while Reggina moved ahead of Parma – now second last – after this week’s game. Luca Cigarini opened the score for Parma but in the second half, Massimo Paci was sent off for the Gialloblu and Francesco Cozza led his team-mates to victory with his two goals. A breath of fresh air for Empoli, who only needed a great play by Ignazio Abate to take over the “Marassi”, defeating a Genoa side that finished the game with 10 players due to Marco Di Vaio’s expulsion. But the Tuscan are still far from their final goal: the last 7 teams are within a margin of 5 points. This week-end’s goalless games were Palermo-Atalanta and Napoli-Siena.

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GOALS of the WEEK

Great strikes aplenty once again… and 4 of them come from the same match! What are the odds of that…

• Trezeguet’s tackled finish after a lovely heel control (Juventus-Lazio)
• Bianchi’s flicked finish over Buffon (min. 02:10) (Juventus-Lazio)
• Siviglia’s diving header into the top corner (min 02:45) (Juventus-Lazio)
• Seedorf’s slaloming run and powerful finish (min. 01:05) (Livorno-Milan)
• Vargas’s left-footed close-range volley (min. 01:24) (Udinese-Catania)
• Quagliarella’s howitzer below the bar from 25 yds. (min. 01:40) (Udinese-Catania)

This week, the goal-of-the-week award goes to Alessandro Del Piero. I’m throwing objectivity right out the window this time, and siding with La Domenica Sportiva. The Juve captain’s run, dribble, and left-footed finish against Lazio is the culmination of an absolutely stunning season by Del Piero, one that a certain Azzurri manager can no longer ignore.

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Results Summary

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