Serie A Round-up: Minnows At The Top

Serie A Week-3 Results:

• Fiorentina 1 – 2 Lazio
• AC Milan 1 – 1 Catania
• Bari 0 – 0 Cagliari
• Udinese 0 – 4 Juventus
• Chievo Verona 0 – 1 Brescia
• Palermo 1 – 2 Internazionale
• AS Roma 2 – 2 Bologna
• Cesena 1 – 0 Lecce
• Parma 1 – 1 Genoa
• Sampdoria 1 – 2 Napoli

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Erjon Bogdani, the architect of Cesena’s memorable victory over Milan last week, scored again this weekend to hand Lecce a narrow 1-0 defeat and in doing so lifted his newly promoted club to the top of the Serie A table at the end of the third week. This match churned out loads of exciting moments as both the teams were reduced to 10 men, which left ample amount of space in the middle of the field for players to manuever.  Francesco Antonioli kept a clean sheet and made sure that Cesena remain the only team this season to have not conceded a single goal in the top flight of Italain football.

Twin strikes by Samuel Eto within the space of eight minutes helped the defending champions Inter to come from behind against Palermo and pick up a close win by one goal to two, after Josip Ilicic put the hosts in front just before the half an hour mark. This victory ties Inter with Cesena on seven points but Inter are placed at the second position on the table behind the surprise leaders Cesena owing to an inferior goal difference.

Meanwhile, Juventus struck some much needed form after securing a thumping win over Udinese which saw il bianconeria hit four goals in the opponent’s net. This away win would certainly help in bringing back some confidence in the side from Turin. AS Roma continued with their disastrous start to the season after blowing away a two goal advantage against Bologna at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome which includes conceding a goal at the stroke of 90 minutes from Marco Di Vaio, who scored a brace. Borriello scored his first goal for the Roman club in the seventh minute of the match and after an own goal by Rubin in the fifty-ninth minute, Ranieri’s men were looking all set to register their first victory of the season. Unfortunately, they shot themselves on their foot during the last twelve minutes and are now placed at a lowly seventeenth on the Serie A table, just above the relegation zone.

Lazio picked up a vital 2-1 win at Fiorentina ahead of their huge mid-week match against Milan on Wednesday. Ledesma, who conceded a penalty in the nineteenth minute, which put the host Fiorentina in lead, redeemed himself after a short while, when he scored from a Stefano Mauri pass to maintain the parity in the match. Kozak finally netted the decider for the Biancazzurri in the sixty ninth minute.

Milan carried on with their weak performances in the Local league as they were held to a draw by Catania at San Siro on Saturday. Catania, who were chasing their first away win against Milan got of to a dream start when Ciro Capuano’s screamer landed in the back of Abbiati’s net on the twenty-seventh minute. Milan, again, struggled in the creativity department and had to rely on their veteran striker Pippo Inzaghi, who scored just before the half time whistle after failing to put the Rossoneri in lead from a similar position early in the match. Milan were without the services of injured Pato but never in their wildest of dreams would they have thought that they will be forced to settle for only one point against Catania at home.

The Hard Tackle’s Match of the Week
Sampdoria 1- 2 Napoli

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It can be easily said that the Italains had saved the best for the last. The late Sunday night kickoff between Sampdoria and Napoli was the final match of the weekend and it provided a thrilling end to the weekend. After a lukewarm first half, which saw both the teams playing an ineffective attacking game, all hell broke loose in the final twelve minutes when Cassano scored for Sampdoria through a penalty in the 78^th minute. The home fans believed that this goal of Cassano was good enough to give them a win but twin strikes, first from Hamsik in the 83^rd and then from Cavani in the 86^th minute gave Napoli their first win of the season and handed Sampdoria their first loss on their home turf since January 2009.

The Hard Tackle’s Goal of the Week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMG0M9UxisA
                   110 km/hr? You have got to be kidding me

There are strong chances that Ciro Capuano might not score another goal in this season again but his thunderous volley from 35 yards against Milan on Saturday could very well be a serious candidate for the goal of the season and not just the goal of the week. There was constant pressure by the visiting team but thanks to poor defensive clearances, the host laid the ground work for this screamer of a goal. The shot by Catania’s left back came out of the blue and was clocked at a stunning 110 Km/hr. From the moment the ball left his feet, one knew that it would end up at the back of the net.