Archive for March 10th, 2008

Italian Players Around the World (10/03)

Monday, March 10th, 2008

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

Fabio Grosso wallpaper

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.
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ENGLAND
Player Team Opp. mins. Contrib. Score
Carlo Cudicini Chelsea @Barnsl.(CUP) 90 / 0-1
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SCOTLAND      
Massimo Donati Celtic @Aberd.(CUP) 13 / 1-1
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GERMANY      
Luca Toni Bayern M. Karlsruhe 90 1 goal 2-0
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SPAIN      
Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid Espanyol (injd.) / 2-1
Giuseppe Rossi Villareal @Barcelona (bench) / 2-1
Christian Abbiati Atl. Madrid @Zaragoza 90 / 1-2
Gianluca Zambrotta Barcelona Villareal 90 / 1-2
Enzo Maresca Sevilla Levante 90 / 2-1
Morgan De Sanctis Sevilla Levante (bench) / 2-1
Emiliano Moretti Valencia Deportivo (N/A) / 2-2
Stefano Sorrentino Recreativo @Mallorca 90 / 1-7
Damiano Tommasi Levante @Sevilla (injd.) / 1-2
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FRANCE      
Fabio Grosso Lyon Bordeaux 90 1 assist  4-2
Flavio Roma Monaco @Nancy (N/A) / 0-2
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HOLLAND      
Graziano Pellè AZ Alkmaar Feyenoord sched. for WED
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BELGIUM      
Roberto Mirri Mons @Genk 90 / 2-1
Alessandro Pistone Mons @Genk (injd.) / 2-1
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SWITZERLAND      
Stefano Razzetti St. Gallen @Basel (bench) / 1-2
Andrea Guatelli FC Zürich @Young Boys (bench) / 0-3
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POLAND      
Stefano Napoleoni Widzew Łódź Lech Poznan 86 / 1-1
Joseph Oshadogan Widzew Łódź Lech Poznan (N/A) / 1-1
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RUSSIA      
Ivan Pelizzoli Lok. Moscow SEASON OVER / / /

 

Heroes of the week

This week, our Italian players are back to points: one goal for our striker ‘made in Germany’ Toni, one assist for our World Cup 2006 hero (also Germany-related) Grosso. About time we mentioned the French Ligue 1 in this segment…

Luca Toni, age 30So let’s begin with the Bundesliga, and someone we are used to see featuring in this ‘Heroes of the week’ segment by now. Bayern Munich was hosting Karlsruher SC this week-end, in an interesting match pitting 1st vs. 6th-ranked in the German league. With Luca Toni in form, we all knew how that would end, with the ex-Fiorentina striker putting his name on yet another goal (protection of the ball inside the box, diagonal finish on the opposite post) and consolidating his lead in the Bundesliga scoring charts.

Fabio Grosso, age 30Then let’s move over to France, and the usually strongly-populated-by-0-0-draws Ligue 1. Featuring for the first time here, none other than Italy-Germany 2006 man-of-the-match Fabio Grosso. I’m sure everyone remembers the inswinging strike of July 4th which brought an entire nation to its knees, but if something can be said with certainty, is that the ex-Inter and Palermo player has not even come close to similar emotions during his spell at Lyon this season. This week-end however, in a much anticipated 1st vs. 2nd clash during which Lyon were hosting Bordeaux, Grosso dished out a top-notch performance. Attentive in defense and very active in offensive, the Italian winger even provided the assist for Mathieu Bodmer’s opening goal. Bravo Fabio.

Serie A Matchday 27 – Week-end Review + GOALS of the Week (2007-08)

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Week-End Reviews

Here are the results and summaries for matchday 27. Full Video Highlights here.

Italian Calcio Blog week 27 review

Italian Calcio Blog

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GOALS of the WEEK

After almost three weeks of non-stop stunners, matchday 27 was a little more shy in terms of goal-of-the-week contenders. Here’s what we have on the menu for you today.

This week, the goal-of-the-week award goes to Zdeněk Grygera. Now I know what you’re going to tell me: Cristian Silvestri’s bike-kick is nicer and more difficult, but I disagree. Hitting the ball with that much power and still maintaining an accurate trajectory towards goal is not an easy feat, and the Czech defender got everything spot-on for that strike. Besides, what’s the point of being a Juventino author if you can’t plug players from your own team once in a while? :P


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Results Summary

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Serie A – day 27
Inter – Reggina
2 – 0
Palermo – Udinese
1 – 1
Catania – Cagliari
2 – 1
Empoli – Milan
1 – 3
Lazio – Livorno
2 – 0
Napoli – Roma
0 – 2
Parma – Sampdoria
1 – 2
Siena – Fiorentina
1 – 0
Torino – Atalanta
1 – 0
Genoa – Juventus
0 – 2