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  • Monday 26 January 2009

    Serie A Round 20 Review: Roma Blitz Napoli

    Reggina 0-1 Chievo
    Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina
    Bologna 1-4 AC Milan
    Genoa 1-1 Catania
    Inter Milan 1-0 Sampdoria
    Lazio 1-4 Cagliari
    Lecce 3-3 Torino
    Napoli 0-3 Roma
    Palermo 3-2 Udinese
    Siena 1-0 Atalanta

    We start the round-up in Turin where a solitary goal from Claudio Marchisio was enough to see off Fiorentina in a hotly contested game at the Olimpico. Alessandro Del Piero was again in good form providing the assist for Marchisio, but there was controversy later on as a seemingly valid Alberto Gilardino goal was ruled out for offside. Gianluigi Buffon also made several fine saves to deny the former AC Milan striker as well as Manuel Pasqual.

    Elsewhere on Saturday, Reggina battled bravely with 10 men after Chilean midfielder Carlos Garmona was sent off in the first half. They looked like they’d rescued a point against fellow cellar-dwellers Chievo only for Vincenzo Italiano to break Calabrian hearts with a 93rd minute thunderbolt that lifts Chievo off the bottom.

    On Sunday, Inter returned to the top of the league albeit in not entirely convincing fashion at home to Sampdoria. A solitary goal from fat, egomaniacal oxygen thief Adriano was enough to settle it, but the Brazilian has subsequently been banned for a snide punch on a Sampdoria defender as he was going up for a first-half corner – thus emphasizing his utter worthlessness. A sorry tale of a talent well and truly wasted.

    AC Milan remain safely ensconced in third after an emphatic victory in Bologna to end Sinisa Mihailovic’s unbeaten run as manager of the Rossoblu. After Marco Di Vaio scored a penalty to notch up his 15th goal of the season, it was one-way traffic as Clarence Seedorf equalised within five minutes, before Kaka put the visitors 2-1 ahead with a penalty of his own then doubled his tally three minutes before half-time. On the hour mark, David Beckham completed the victory with a fourth and his first goal in Serie A. It is a victory that leaves them 3 points off the pace.

    Genoa fell behind the top 3 after being held at home by Catania. The visitors’ Uruguayan striker Jorge Martinez gave the Sicillians the lead in the second half, but the advantage was short lived as the Grifone’s main man Diego Milito scored his 13th of the season to level things up – a frustrating result for Genoa given their current form. It was not a costly draw though, as Napoli lost for the second week in succession, going down 3-0 at home to a rampant Roma side who have lost just once in their last 10 league matches. Totti returned for Luciano Spalletti’s men and it was obviously a boost – Phillipe Mexes and Juan scored in the first half to put the visitors in control before Mirko Vucinic – in this writer’s opinion one of Europe’s top strikers – rounded things off. Thanks to results elsewhere the Giallorossi move up to fifth.


    Roma’s city rivals Lazio stumbled big time, going down 4-1 at home to Cagliari with Jeda scoring twice inside the opening 10 minutes. Palermo beat struggling Udinese in a thriller in Sicily, the south American duo of Fabio Simplicio and Edison Cavani doing the business for them as is so often the case. Lecce and Torino played out a breathless 3-3 draw at the Via Del Mare that does neither team any favours escaping the trap door and a Mario Frick strike was enough for Siena to beat Atalanta.

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