Genoa home win over Palermo on Sunday night in the final round of matches in Serie A meant relegation for Lecce. Earlier in the day we said some emotional farewells in both of the Juventus and AC Milan matches. Alessandro Del Piero, Clarence Seedorf, Rino Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta, Gianluca Zambrotta and Pippo Inzaghi said the farewells and we saw a goal each from Alessandro Del Piero and Pippo Inzaghi in their last appearance in Serie A. Marco Di Vaio and [...]
It’s been three weeks of consistently talking about the third place in Serie A and now only one fixture remains. Before this weekend, it looked certain that Napoli would end up in the Champions League but after a horrendous loss at Bologna it is once again Udinese who are in the driver’s seat. Although Udinese sit in front, the other three teams are still nipping at their heels and one slip up could cause a complete reshuffling of the standings. [...]
The title is heading back to Juventus. Inter Milan’s 4-2 win in the Milan derby, their second of the season, all but secured the title for the grand Old Lady who claimed all three points in Trieste against Cagliari with a two-nil victory. Juve have now 28 undisputed Italian league titles and 30 if you count the two that were revoked from them. Genoa imploded away at Udinese leaving them at risk of relegation on the final day. With their [...]
Only three games remain and the race for third only continues to get tighter. Last weekends result saw Napoli draw Roma, Udinese take 3 points from Lazio and Inter climb back with another win. Currently Napoli, Udinese, Lazio and Inter are all level with 55 points. As I said last week, this race has been completely unpredictable but with only three games, I believe this race is Napoli’s to lose. Napoli are currently sitting in third. They have a goal [...]
Not winning a game since early February Genoa are finding themselves in a battle to survive the drop after their third defeat in seven days. On Sunday they lost away at Bologna and with Lecce losing as well, Genoa are one point above the relegation zone. A squad that was bought for European football could be playing Serie B football next season. Saturday 28th April There were three games on Saturday evening; there was a Sicilian derby on which Palermo [...]
Saturday 28th April Roma v Napoli The game of the weekend is between two teams of contrasting fortunes. Roma have lost their last two games, a heavy 4-0 loss to Juventus in Turin and a 2-1 home reverse to Fiorentina. Napoli on the other hand, have beaten strugglers Lecce and Novara to move up to fourth. A huge game in the battle for third place, a Napoli win would leave Luis Enrique’s side with only Europa League football to play [...]
Two weeks ago I professed that Roma’s chances at third place were over and that it was Lazio’s to lose with Napoli the best odds at finishing third. I was wrong. Following the last two weeks of results, the race is still open with Lazio still in the driving seat, but not comfortably. With 5 games left, the third spot in the Champions League is still up for grabs. The current table has Lazio in third with 55 points. 3 [...]
There was some idiotic scenes in the Genoa, as the home side -losing to Siena at the time -were demanded to take of their jerseys by their own ultras. The reasoning; according to this small minority of fans the players were not fit enough to wear the club’s colours. Marco Rossi, Genoa’s captain, ceded to their demands and went about collecting jerseys from his team-mates. This left Genoa Giandomenico Mesto in tears on the pitch. To their credit, at least [...]
Saturday 21st April Udinese v Chievo Since their departure from the Europa League in early March, Francesco Guidolin’s side have experienced a dip in form that has seen them lose their grip on the last Champions League spot. Only three points will do this weekend in Verona, but they will have to work hard for it. Chievo have rose steadily up the table in recent weeks, and before their 1-0 home loss against AC Milan, the Mussi Volanti had taken [...]
After Easter Saturday disappointing performance away at Lecce, Roma bounced back with a very impressive home win over fellow Champions league contenders Udinese where Francesco Totti rolled back the years with a captain’s performance. The other team to win who are chasing third place was Inter who won at home to Siena, Lazio lost away at Juventus thanks to a late strike from Alex Del Piero. While Napoli lost again this time at home to Atalanta and they are a [...]
This season you may have noticed that when we talk about the fight for the final Champions League place, it has been a reference to third, not fourth. Thanks mostly to the poor performances of Italian clubs in European competition (primarily in the Europa League), Serie A lost a spot in the Champions League this year at the expense of the German Bundesliga, who had overtaken Italy in UEFA’s coefficient rankings. What’s more troubling for Italy is that France and [...]
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Alessandro Del Piero has written yet another chapter in his storied Juventus career to ensure the Old Lady reclaimed top spot in Serie A after a thrilling 2-1 win over Lazio at the Juventus Stadium on Wednesday. Coming on as a substitute in game number 700 in a Bianconeri shirt, Del Piero netted goal number 289. Arguably, it is one of his most important. It was also free kick number 42 which has been [...]
