Napoli were involved in the biggest fixture of week 18 as Walter Mazzarri took his team to the Giuseppe Meazza to face Inter. The Partenopei ‘s title aspirations will be severely tested over the first four days following the winter break with a home fixture against Juventus to come on Sunday evening.

Unfortunately, they failed their first test miserably as the home side ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. To sum up, the Neapolitans were never really in the game and after Thiago Motta had delivered a hammer blow to Mazzarri’s side as early as the third minute, the Partenopei never looked like snatching anything from the match. On 26 minutes, Michele Pazienza drew his side level with his first goal in a year,  but it was harsh on the Nerazzurri, who seemed inspired under new coach Leonardo. After they had regained the lead seven minutes from the interval through the outstanding Estaban Cambiasso, the visitors wilted and never regained any momentum. Motta added a third goal 11 minutes into the second-half as Inter threatened to embarrass the Vesuviani. Ezequiel Lavezzi, back after his recent ankle injury looked out of sorts as did the normally inspirational Edinson Cavani, who grew more and more frustrated as the game wore on, dropping deeper and deeper to pick up possession which played straight into the hands of the home side. Motta, Cambiasso and captain Javier Zanetti controlled the midfield areas on a night that could well turn their club’s season around. Mazzarri now has to pick up the troops as they return to home comforts to face a Sunday night blockbuster against bitter rivals Juventus, who will be without their former Napoli striker Fabio Quagliarella – out for the rest of the campaign with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

For 79 minutes, the hotly anticipated Puglian derby between Lecce and Bari provided nothing except a cure for insomnia. Both sides were seemingly too scared to commit to winning the game and it looked for all the world that the final outcome would be a goalless draw. On 56 minutes however, Bari coach Gian Piero Ventura played his trump card bringing on new loan signing Stefano Okaka to replace the largely ineffective Francesco Caputo, 23 minutes later, the young Italian Under 21 international was the toast of Bari as he connected with a cross from Alessandro Gazzi to grab the only goal of the game – cue delirium in the stands as 6000 Bari supporters hailed their new hero. The only thing missing in a bad tempered game was the statutory sending off and right at the death, Lecce captain Guillermo Giacomazzi duly obliged as he picked up his second yellow card of the game. Lecce coach Luigi De Canio, himself serving a touchline ban, looked crestfallen in the VIP area, his president, Pierandrea Semeraro immediately ordered the squad to attend a boot camp before Sunday’s game in the capital against Lazio. De Canio has entered the last chance saloon and defeat to the capital club will surely see his tenure come to an end. Bari have given themselves hope for survival in the Italian top-flight, next up for them is a home tie against Bologna.

To say that Cagilari president Massimo Cellino was unhappy with match referee Nicola Rizzoli after his team were beaten 0-1 at the Stadio Sant’Elia by Milan would be an understatement. The patron described the officials performance as “refereeing like an Englishman” (although one suspects that Howard Webb would have something to say about that statement) as his team put up a brave but ultimately fruitless fight against the league leaders and subsequent winter champions. Cellino was making a point about the number of times Rizzoli seemed to be penalising the home side but what that has to do with the standard of refereeing in the UK only he knows. Milan’s winner came just four minutes from time courtesy of Rodney Strasser, assisted by new boy Antonio Cassano. Cagliari deserved a point from the game with the visitors woodwork being rattled on a couple of occasions. Coach Roberto Donadoni must now pick his team up for Sunday’s trip to Parma. Rizzoli incidentally, left Sardinia under a police escort.

If Cellino was unhappy with the refereeing in Sardinia, then Catania chief Antonio Pulverenti was apoplectic with the performance of referee Christian Brighi in his sides 4-2 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma. Leading 1-2 at the interval thanks to goals from Matias Silvestre and the brilliant Argentine Maxi Lopez, the game turned just two minutes after the re-start when a cross from Roma defender John Arne Riise was poked home by Marco Borriello for his second goal of the match. Replays clearly showed that the ball was behind the touchline as the Norwegian international crossed the ball but Brighi and his assistants failed to spot this and the goal stood. Four minutes from time there was more heartbreak for Gli Elefanti as substitute Mirko Vucinic fired home to give the home side the lead. Again, replays showed that the Montenegrin striker was quite clearly in an offside position and the visitors were robbed of at least a share of the points. “The referee was a thief today” stated  a furious Pulvirenti after the game – a trip to see the headmaster will surely now await the patron as his side look to make amends on Sunday against Inter.

Palermo gave an outstanding display in front of their fans at the Stadio Renzo Barbera demolishing Sampdoria 3-0. In a week when their inspirational Argentinean midfielder Javier Pastore stated that he had turned down a lucrative offer to join Barcelona to stay in Sicily, the Rosanero kept up their phenomenal home form with a scintillating display of attacking football that the visitors found impossible to cope with. Captain Fabrizio Miccoli got the first goal after 37 minutes, midfielder Giulio Migliaccio doubled the home sides advantage five minutes after the re-start and substitute Massimo Maccarone completed the rout with a third goal on 79 minutes. Coach Delio Rossi has constructed one of the most exciting teams in Serie A and the supporters in the Sicilian capital are dreaming of Champions League football next season. On Sunday, the islanders head north to face Chievo.

Steve Mitchell

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