Serie A Week-6 Results:
- Udinese 1 – 0 Cesena
- Parma 0 – 1 AC Milan
- Lecce 1 – 0 Catania
- Lazio 1 – 0 Brescia
- Napoli 2 – 0 AS Roma
- Chievo Verona 0 – 0 Cagliari
- Genoa 2 – 1 Bari
- Bologna 1 – 1 Sampdoria
- Fiorentina 1 – 2 Palermo
- Internazionale 0 – 0 Juventus
Six weeks into the season, dust is finally beginning to settle down and sense is starting to prevail as far as the Serie A leaderboard is concerned. All the major title contenders are slowly but surely leapfrogging their comparatively weaker opponents to return at the top of the pile after the first few weeks that saw some shocking names ruling the roost in Calcio.
The week saw Serie A leadership change hands twice with Milan climbing to the top on Saturday night after securing their first away win of the season, and then Lazio claiming the top spot from the Rossoneri after securing a close fought win over 10-man Brescia at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening. With only fourteen goals in ten matches over the weekend, Serie A may have lacked goals but it had abundance of passion and drama.
Finally a win under their belt..
Thanks to an injury-time strike by their Moroccan defender, Udinese picked up their first win of the season against newly-promoted Cesena. The visitors were completely outplayed during the ninety minutes and couldn’t even manage a single shot on goal. It seemed Cesena were more than content with a single point from their weekend trip and if it wasn’t for a tap in from Benatia three minutes into stoppage time, the Serie A newbies would have picked up their first point in over three weeks. A heartbreak for them, indeed.
Rossoneri- peaking at the right moment?
Milan went to the top of Serie A for a few hours on Saturday, after an exquisite strike from their veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo gave the red and blacks their first away victory of the season at the Stadio Tardini against Parma. It was an even contest in the first quarter of the match, with both teams enjoying decent possession but after the mesmerizing goal by Pirlo midway through the first half, the colour of the match changed drastically.
Milan could have finished with a better goal difference but it turned out to be a day which their Swedish forward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, would like to quickly forget. The match saw him miss four one-on-one opportunities and lose out on a personal duel with Parma’s shot stopper Mirante.
On the other hand, goalkeeper Mirante kept the home side in the mix of the things with his heroic saves. The visitors took their foot off the pedal in the last fifteen minutes and as a result their backline was kept on their toes. With two back-to-back wins, Milan would head into the International break on a positive note but the lack of quality finishing will surely be a cause of concern for Allegri, specially with crucial matches against Madrid, Juventus and Inter lined up for them in the next month and a half.
Two clubs from Rome paint a contrasting picture..
Lazio went to the top of Serie A this weekend after getting the better of 10-man Brescia in a closely fought 1-0 win. Mauri scored the winner for the hosts just before the half time whistle. Brescia, who were already finding it difficult to get the equalizer, lost all the hope to salvage even a draw in Rome after Alessandro Diamanti was given his marching orders when he received his second yellow card of the evening with little over a quarter of an hour to go. This victory left Lazio with 13 points in six games, and they stand two points clear of Napoli and both the Milanese clubs.
Meanwhile, A.S. Roma continued their woeful start to the season as they went down 0-2 to Napoli and in doing so, suffered their first loss in Naples in over 13 years. Roma came into this match after a stunning victory over defending champions Inter, but could not replicate their last week Serie A form and were completely dominated by the home team. Marek Hamsik scored the first of the two goals in the 72nd minute. The match went beyond the reach of the Roman club after their defender Juan’s clearance landed in their own net with under seven minutes to go. This result saw Napoli jump to a joint second position on the table with Milan and Inter and at the same time Roma crashed back into the relegation zone.
Fiorentina sees red..
A missed penalty came to haunt Mihajlovic’s team, as Fiorentina succumbed to Palermo by two goals to one. Josip Ilicic and Javier Pastore’s twin strikes gave the visitors a two-goal lead at halftime. Gilardino pulled one back for La Viola just before an hour mark and Ljajic almost completed a dream comeback for the hosts, but his spot kick was saved by Sirigu. The worst was yet to come for Fiorentina and it came in the form of a direct red card to Montolivo in the 73rd minute that tilted the match completely in favour of the visitors.
Weekend Stalemates
Hosts Bologna came from a goal down to walk away with one point against Sampdoria at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. Miguel Britos’s second half header cancelled out the first half own goal by Portanova which had given i Blucerchiati the lead. The game ended 1-1 and left Sampdoria and Bologna languishing in the middle of the bottom half. The biggest surprise of the season so far has been Chievo Verona, who were unfortunately held to a goalless draw at home by Cagliari this weekend. With that, the Flying Donkeys who were sitting pretty at third place last week, were pushed down to fifth behind the mighty clubs from Milan.
Match of the week – Inter vs Juventus
The match that is popularly known as the Derby d ‘Italia or the ‘Derby of Italy’ , ended as a goalless draw for the first time in over eleven years. There were chances galore for the both the Nerazzurri and the Bianconeri but both of them failed to take advantage of their respective opportunities. It was a fast-paced tactical battle fought chiefly in the middle of the park. Krasic, the hat-trick hero for Juventus from last week, was by far their best player in the match for the Turin side and was involved in all the attacks on Julio Cesar’s goal. Milito confirmed that he is far from his best this season when he missed a sitter of a one on one chance against Storari in the second half.
Inter would certainly not be happy with the result, meanwhile their city rival Milan’s manager Allegri would have slept with a big grin on his face as Inter was expected to come out with a comfortable win from this fixture.
Goal of the week – Andrea Pirlo (Milan)
Pirlo magic!
There were only fourteen goals scored over the weekend, which made our job fairly easy. However, just to clarify that even if double the amount of goals were scored this weekend, Andrea Pirlo’s strike against Parma would have easily made it to the top of the list. Such was the respect Pirlo’s strike commanded. He is known for his long rangers but his stunning strike from nearly 40 meters which landed in the top right corner, brought back the memories of his goal against Madrid last season when he scored out of the blue and stunned Iker Casillas. The goal left his teammates speechless.
Ronaldiniho could only shake his head in disbelief and grin in amazement when he went on to hug the deadball legend. Pirlo is a natural playmaker but has been forced to play a more defensive role by Allgeri as Milan leaked goals last season. As a result Pirlo’s role has been criticized a lot by some fans, but this scorcher of a goal is bound to shut most of his detractors.