Can you believe that this is Silvio Berlusconi's daughter? They'll be coming to get you, Barbara Berlusconi…
The headline says it all. Come on, you can figure it out. AC Milan is back where it rightfully belongs: at the top of the Serie A Table!
Thanks to a few results swinging the Rossoneri’s way, Gennaro Gattuso and co vaulted Lazio into first place after the Rome side fell 1-0 to gutsy Cesena on the road, undone by midfielder Marco Parolo’s 85th minute strike, his first goal in 10 starts.
As good as Edy Peja’s boys have played, I don’t consider Lazio a real title contender, and this dismal defeat should commence their slip into the fight for a Europa League place. Lazio is odd in that I, and many others, hate them more because of their fans than anything that happens on the pitch. (That is besides the occasional, misguided pandering to those fans.)
Despite having a couple of fun players in Brazilian MF Hernanes and sulky striker Mauro Zarate, the 11th rule of soccer states that you just can’t root for a team that gives fascists pleasure in any way, so I’m glad they’ve finally fallen from their lofty perch.
The fact that Milan surpassed them is an added bonus.
The Rossoneri defeated Palermo 3-1 at the San Siro. Pato put Milan ahead in the 19th minute with a textbook header only for Palermo to equalize through Slovenian midfielder Armin Bacinovic. But Milan were not to be denied and a 77th minute penalty by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a solid finish by the oh-so-expensive substitute Robinho sealed all three points for Milan.
Other rivals for the top spot faltered in their matches.
Brescia produced another spirited performance to draw at home with Juventus. Fabio Quagliarella put the Old Lady ahead in the 71st only for the hosts to strike right back through ex-West Ham striker Alessandro Diamanti.
And Inter, oh Inter. (Sorry, TB!) The only other squad who could have climbed to the top in the event of a Lazio loss sputtered to another draw with inferior opposition. Lecce hosted the Nerazzurri in a match extremely similar to the Brescia-Juventus tilt. Diego Milito, in desperate need of a good vein of form, struck first for the visitors in the 76th minute but Ruben Olivera’s first goal of the Serie A season earned Lecce a precious point.
Rafa’s side is certainly banged up, true, but you know he can’t have just one excuse. In some recent comments he seems to imply that many of the problems may have carried over from the reign of his predecessor:
“No, I did not expect as many problems on the part of a team which had just come off a season where it won everything. The players are working well, but there are also difficulties.”
Regardless of whether or not this is a subtle jab at Jose Mourinho, it’s most definitely a shirking of responsibility.
With the latest season-ending injury for Inter landing on Walter Samuel, Benitez will be happy to stay close until January when he will hope to buy some reinforcements.
In other matches of note, Roma continued its recent unbeaten run in Serie A, now at five matches, after defeating Fiorentina at home in a lively five-goal contest. Roma now sit in sixth after a dreadful start and they are starting to play some quality attacking football. If they can tighten up their defense (big if) they should be able to mount a strong challenge for the title.
UF commentariat favorite Napoli beat Cagliari in Sardinia on a stoppage time strike from Anonsters’ favorite frontman, Ezequiel Lavezzi. Morgan de Sanctis had a fine game in goal for the hosts, but the win brought Napoli up to third in the table, just two points back from Milan. If you’ve recently chosen Mazzarri’s Napoli as your Serie A squad, you picked a fine time to do so.
Elsewhere, Chievo drew at home with Bari 0-0 while Catania and Genoa both earned 1-0 wins over Udinese and Bologna respectively.
Tomorrow, the last of the matchday 11 games sees bottom-of-the-table Parma hosting Sampdoria, who are still going through this latest Cassano affair. Club President Riccardo Garrone may appear to be having a bit of a power trip here, but as I’ve said before, what Cassano did (essentially declining a personal invitation to a dinner in which both the player and executive would be honored) would be considered extremely insulting to Italians, especially ones that own football clubs.
Cassano has apologized but Samp and Garrone seem intent on cutting ties with the oft-troubled star. It will be interesting to see where he goes.
My first instinct is that he’ll stay in Italy, but there’s also an EPL upstart in the Champions League that’s in the market for strikers, isn’t there?
@ Orr: How’s Fiorentina doing with Mutu back? Are they about where they should be–mid-table–or should they begin pushing up the table too?
<3 Lavezzi <3
Also, Inter’s Issues mean that the Fat Spanish Waiter is being exposed once and for all, no? You can’t really claim Liverpool was a one-off fluke of failbaggitude if the same problems follow you to a club that, as Rafa pointed out, won everything last year, can you?
@OM – Fiorentina’s looked much better lately, pulled themselves out of the relegation zone and have been hovering in the middle. Had been unbeaten in 4 until thet lost to Roma yesterday, but they put up a good fight. Mutu hasn’t hit the net yet, but he’s tried, he’s started 3 games but leads Fiorentina in shots per appearance by far(like 4.3). So far here’e what I think: they’re not as bad as they started but I just don’t think they’ll be able to finish any higher than 8th or 9th in the table.
@Anonsters – Liverpool’s Champions League success is looking like more of a fluke for Rafa at least. I consider myself a Liverpool fan as well and I’m not calling one of the clubs greatest triumphs a fluke, just that the manager may have been kind of just along for the ride.