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  • Monday 25 January 2010

    Two off, but Inter take derby spoils: Serie A reviews

    Bologna 2-2 Atalanta
    Genoa 1-1 Bari
    Catania 3-0 Parma
    Juventus 1-2 Roma
    Lazio 1-1 Chievo
    Siena 1-1 Cagliari
    Bologna 2-1 Bari
    Udinese 2-3 Sampdoria
    Palermo 3-0 Fiorentina
    Livorno 0-2 Napoli
    Genoa 2-0 Atalanta
    Internazionale 2-0 Milan

    The derby started well for Inter when Diego Milito put them in front with a fine, angled finish after just ten minutes. Wesley Sneijder was running the show from midfield, as he does so often, but managed to get himself sent off for dissent before the half hour mark. Sarcastically applauding the referee drew a straight red for the Dutchman. Far from heads dropping for the Nerazzurri, it galvanised them. Yes, Milan had the majority of possession, but they were as wasteful as the Inter midfield was tigerish and the defence stoic. Goran Pandev increased the lead on 65 minutes with a superb free-kick as Milan huffed and puffed to little real effect. Lucio was sent off in stoppage time, picking up a second yellow for handling the ball, but Julio Cesar saved the resultant penalty from Ronaldinho sending half the San Siro crowd crazy. It had an effect on the Inter bench too where Marco Materazzi donned a Silvio Berlusconi mask before celebrating in the middle of the pitch to hoots of laughter.

    Defeat for the Rossoneri allowed Roma to close to within two points after coming from behind to beat troubled Juventus. The ageless Alessandro del Piero gave the Bianconeri a deserved lead early in the second half, but they went to pieces after that. Fabio Grosso felled Rodrigo Taddei in the box and Francesco Totti - an early replacement for the injured Luca Toni - fired in the free-kick, his 188th Serie A goal and, remarkably, his first against Juve in Turin. Gianluigi Buffon was sent off for taking down John-Arne Riise and the Norwegian grabbed a stoppage time winner with a superb header. Napoli and Palermo both took advantage of Juve's slip to move up. Napoli saw off Livorno who finished with ten men and missed a penalty, so determined were they not to win the game. Cristian Maggio opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and Luca Cigarini finished it on the stroke of full-time after Cristiano Lucarelli had missed from 12 yards and Alfonso de Lucia was sent off. Palermo destroyed a woeful Fiorentina with a wonderful attacking display. 20-year old Uruguayan Abel Hernandez scored twice for the Rosanero, linking up well with Fabrizio Micolli who was sublime throughout. Hernandez started in place of Igor Budan, but the Croatian came off the bench to add a third as the Sicilians move into fifth.

    Sampdoria arrested a horror run that saw them slip into the bottom half of the table after a stellar start as they came from behind twice away against Udinese. Antonio de Natale and Giampaolo Pazzini exchanged penalties in the first half, but Udinese led at the break through Mauricio Isla. Nicola Pozzi and Franco Semioli struck in the second period to take a much-needed three points for the Genoese. Their city rivals Genoa also won, 2-0 at home to lowly Atalanta, Rodrigo Palacio and Hernan Crespo on target. Cagliari are in seventh after an eventful game at Siena where both sides finished with ten men. Joaquin Larrivey was first to go for Cagliari and Emanuele Calaio put the home side in front. It was going swimmingly for them until Emilson also saw red ten minutes from time and Alessandro Matri scored the penalty.

    Parma slip into the bottom half after slumping to heavy defeat at Catania. Giuseppe Mascara put Catania in front and then missed a penalty, but Jorge Martinez and Takayuki Morimoto made sure that miss didn't matter too much. Bari blew a lead at Bologna, Henry Gimenez on target twice after Paulo Barretto had put Bari in front and Lazio drew with Chievo, Sergio Pellissier equalising for the Flying Donkeys after Gugliermo Stendardo had put Lazio in front early on.

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