Inside Serie A: Week 7 and Week 8

Serie A Review of Week 7

Week 7 of the Serie A can be considered both boring and exciting. Internazionale FC continued their inconsistent and poor run of form losing 2-1 to Catania Calcio. Nerazzurri midfielder Estebian Cambiasso opened the scoring early on in the match with a fine solo effort. In the second half, Catania stormed back out-performing the Inter players with Sergio Almiron, on loan from Juventus, scoring the equalizer in the 47^th minute, with Lodi scoring the game-winner from the penalty spot to send Inter spiralling into a crisis.

SSC Napoli also stumbled at the San Paolo against Parma, a team which has proven to be fierce opponents this year. Sebastian Giovinco, who has scored 5 goals this season, looks to be in tip top form as he continues to create goal-scoring opportunities as well as scoring goals himself. In the second half against the Partenopei, Giovinco slipped in a beautiful through ball to Gobbi , who executed the play to give the Gialloblu the go-ahead goal. Napoli however stormed back with an eqiualiser with Giuseppe Mascara. Then, in the closing minutes of the game, it went all wrong for Napoli as Parma was rewarded a spot kick which was converted by Modesto to hand Parma a morale-boosting win.

AC Milan seems to be getting back on their feet as they dominated US Città di Palermo with a 3-0 thumping at the San Siro with Robinho returning to the line-up. Robinho looked as if he did not miss a step performing very well as it was evident his presence was missed on the field for the Rossoneri. Antonio Nocerino opened the scoring in fine fashion with a tap-in from close range set up by a diving-headed pass from Alberto Aquilani! Robinho followed with a clean finish from a beautiful set-up from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In second half action, Antonio Cassano put the final nail in the coffin as he finished off the Sicilians with a blast into the bottom right corner.

The match of the weekend was the Derby of Rome between SS Lazio v AS Roma. This match injected a shot of excitement in this week’s rather boring soccer action in the Serie A with 5 out of 10 games ending in a scoreless draw. Both teams were on edge as were the fans as the intensity and atmosphere were insane at the Stadio Olimpico. The Giallorossi opened the scoring early with Argentine-born Italian international Pablo Osvaldo showing the Roma faithful his worth by scoring the first goal of the game. Roma could have been leading by 3 or 4 goals in the first half clearly dominating the midfield. At half time, Edy Reja, Lazio head coach, must have given his team an ear full as the Biancocelesti came out flying in the second half and began to put Roma under an extreme amount of pressure. Lazio equalised with a questionable penalty on Hernanes. Then, at the last gasp of the game, German international Miroslav Klose scored the game-winner capitalizing on 2 Giallorossi defensemen who were caught napping at the back.  Roma fell 2-1 to Lazio who climbed to 4^th place on 11 points, 1 point off of the league leaders. This was one of the best derbies I ever have seen!

Here are the rest of the results for Week 7…

Serie A Preview of Week 8

Internazionale FC will host a very difficult Chievo Verona side in a crucial tie for the Nerazzurri. Inter boss, Claudio Ranieri, knows very well it is a MUST WIN game and that Nerazzurri patron, Massimo Moratti will be expecting the 3 points as Inter sits 4^th place from the bottom of the table. It doesn’t get any easier for Inter FC as they will face an eager Atalanta side in Bergamo in mid-week Serie A action, and then the on-form Juventus FC at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in week 10.  Speaking of the Bianconeri, Juventus FC welcomes Genoa FC at the new Juventus Stadium in Turin looking to stay ahead of the pack. Juve seems to be playing well these days but have proven to have difficulty finding the back of the net. It will not be an easy test against the Grifone who started the season very strongly indeed but have looked a bit sluggish recently as they are winless in last the 3 games, 2 of which were losses to Chievo and Parma. SSC Napoli travels to Cagliari. Walter Mazzarri’s was disappointed the way his men played in mid-week against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and will be looking to return to form in a tough Cagliaritani environment. AC Milan, who are now only 4 points off pace and seem to have found their stride again, travels to US Lecce for the afternoon kick off. The Rossoneri should easily defeat Lecce, who will be missing star attacker David Di Michele due to injury. AS Roma travels to US Città di Palermo who provide a very tough challenge when playing at the Renzo Barbera Stadium in Sicily. The Giallorossi are coming off an emotional loss to their cross-city rivals SS Lazio and will be looking to rebound this week which may be unlikely to happen.

Here are the fixtures and predictions for Week 8….