Matchday 10 Results
Udinese 1-1 Cagliari
Napoli 2-0 Parma
Lazio 0-2 Roma
Bari 2-3 AC Milan
Juventus 3-1 Cesena
Sampdoria 0-0 Catania
Fiorentina 1-0 Chievo
Palermo 1-0 Genoa
Inter Milan 1-1 Brescia
Bologna 2-0 Lecce
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Matchday 11 Results
Brescia 1-1 Juventus
Cagliari 0-1 Napoli
Catania 1-0 Udinese
Cesena 1-0 Lazio
Chievo 0-0 Bari
Genoa 1-0 Bologna
Lecce 1-1 Inter
Milan 3-1 Palermo
Roma 3-2 Fiorentina
Parma 1-0 Sampdoria
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Lazio pay the Penalty
The biggest match in Italy between the Roman rivals was played on Sunday as league leaders Lazio hosted arch rivals Roma at the Olimpico. Roma earned two penalties and converted them duly to come out as runaway winners in the derby. Roma were the dominant side as they created loads of chances only to be stopped by an inspiring Lazio goalkeeper Muslera. Lazio only had a couple of chances with the best chance of the match falling to Foggia who hit the woodwork 7 minutes before time. On the other hand, Roma could have embarrassed their opponents if Simplicio’s strike hadn’t hit the post and in the end Roma were deservedly the winners of arguably the biggest Derby in Italy.
This followed up with a trip to Cesena on Wednesday who were struggling themselves after their defeat against Juventus. The match wore a boring stalemate scoreline up until the 84th minute when Marco Parolo struck a sublime shot from outside the back leaving Muslera with no chance to stop the ball. That made it two defeats out of two games for the league leaders leaving them wanting for more time.
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Problems continue for Inter
Champions Inter dropped more points on Matchday 10 when they hosted Brescia at the San Siro. After a disastrous Champions league game against Spurs, the Nerazzurri were hoping for a better result against their low-profile opponents Brescia. Yet, that wasn’t the case as the visitors made a dream start when they opened the scoring in the 14th minute from an Andrea Caracciolo strike. Things were gloomy for the Champions until the 73rd minute as Samuel Eto’o won a controversial penalty and converted it to give Inter the equaliser. Brescia put 10 men behind the ball as Inter pushed forward for the rest of the match unable to find the winner.
Andrea Caracciolo – shock for the Champions
Matchday 11 saw the La Benameata drop more points as they travelled to Lecce. Just like the Lazio game, this was a game that was crying for goals. However, the breakthrough came with 15 minutes left on the clock from Diego Milito who slotted home a comfortable slider from a Samuel Eto’o cross. Yet, that wasn’t enough for the Nerazzurri as the home side troubled the Champions, eventually equalizing 3 minutes after Milito’s goal. Inter pushed forward for the rest of the 10 minutes but Lecce held their own to collect a solitary point. Once again, Rafa Benitez’s men were not on the winning side with pressure building on the Manager.
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Old Lady with Mixed feelings
Juventus continued their resurgence in the Italian Serie A as they beat struggling Cesena in Turin with a 3-1 scoreline. Cesena took the lead through Jiminez in the 10th minute before Del Piero equalized from the penalty spot at the half hour mark. Cesena were then reduced to 10 men when Pellegrino collected his second yellow card which led to Juve taking the lead coming from Quagliarella just before half time. Constant pressure from the old lady was sustained by Cesena before the lead finally being extended to 2 goals when Iaquinta found the net 3 minutes before full time.
The following match saw Juve travel to Brescia who had shocked Champions Inter in their previous fixture. The hosts were the better of the two sides for larger periods of the game but they weren’t able to capitalize and put their chances to bed. Just like many games in the Italian Serie A that were played on Wednesday, this game was dry without goals until the 71st minute when Quagliarella broke the deadlock after some good work by Grosso from the left flank. The Old Lady was in jubilation but that didn’t last long as Brescia’s star man Diamanti took the ball from inside Juve’s half beating 2 to 3 defenders before slotting home the equalizer in the very next minute.
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Milan move up
AC Milan travelled to Bari to take on AS Bari on Sunday when they had the chance to overtake their city rivals Inter Milan in the Serie A table. Ambrosini gave them the lead in the 4th minute with a diving header from a Seedorf cross. Flamini doubled the visitors’ lead when he scored from an Ibrahimovic pass. The home side got back into the game when Kutuzov scored from inside the box. However, Alexandro “Duck” Pato restored Milan’s lead with his countryman Ronaldinho assisting him. Bari got another goal from Baretto which give a scare for the Rosenerri as they held their nerves to collect 3 important points and overtake Champions Inter into second place in the table, 2 points behind Lazio.
Milan followed up their good performance against Bari with an even better one against Palermo as they defeated Aquile with an impressive 3-1 scoreline. Pato opened the scoring with a header into the top corner after 19 minutes from a Seedorf corner. First half saw no more goals with Milan going into the break with a thin lead. The visitors came strong in the second half as they found the net 30 minutes before full time as Bacinovic scored a stunning goal from 25 yards out. However, Milan earned a penalty which was duly converted by Ibrahimovic to give the hosts a deserved lead. Palermo was put to the sword when Robinho found the open net from an Ibrahimovich cross. That sent Milan to the top of table above Lazio with 23 points.
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Napoli impress again
The men from Naples overcame their midweek defeat in the Europa league against Liverpool with an impressive performance against Parma at home. Ever-improving Uruguayan Edison Cavani scored both the goals for Napoli and they lie just outside the top four what with only a certain goal difference separating them from the Elusive Champions’ league spot.
Napoli were hopeful of getting into the Top 4 from the midweek game when they travelled to mid table Cagliari. The game was goalless up until the stoppage time when Lavezzi struck the only goal of the match. Although Napoli was the dominant side, they were denied many chances by an inspiring Cagliari goalkeeper who saved a number of shots from Napoli. But he was helpless when Cavani released Lavezzi who caught Agazzi on the wrong foot and finished off the pass in a striker’s manner which sent Napoli to 3rd place in the table just two points shy off the top spot.
Lavezzi – The new Super Argentine for Napoli
Other matches included Roma hosting Fiorentina in an entertaining encounter which Roma came out as victors with a 3-2 scoreline. Simplicio, Boriello and Perotta scored for the Romans while Gilardino and substitute D’Agostino scored from a freekick. Genoa overcame a resilient Bologna with a 1-0 scoreline courtesy of a Milanetto strike. Catania’s game was similar to Genoa’s with a solitary goal making the difference between them and Udinese. On the other hand, the only goalless draw game came from Bari and Chievo.
Next Matchday sees some interesting and exciting fixtures with the Milan Derby being the best of the lot. Catch up all the pre match news at TheHardTackle.