18 yards - soccer news

Atalanta hosted Inter this week and the Nerazzuri knew they couldn’t afford another slip up following Roma’s win over Genoa to close the gap to just one point the night before. Inter’s huge injury list continued but at least it allowed 17 year old Balotelli aka “Super Mario” to start. At least Cambiasso was back to work the midfield as only he can (Thanks again Real! you guys just love giving away excellent defensive midfielders don’t you?).

There was plenty of action early and after 21 minutes Vieira rose up to nod in Maicon’s corner kick. Crespo also scored but saw his goal disallowed for offside. After the break Inter wasted a few good chances to increase their lead but Balotelli was doing well and setting up the rest of the team with many good plays. Finally he took charge and doubled Inter’s lead, scoring his first Serie A goal. He beat the offside trap and picked up Stankovic’s pass, leaving the keeper for dead and slotting into an empty net.

In the dying minutes there was some controversy as Materazzi went on a tug fest with Inzaghi’s shirt in the area but the foul actually went the other way and then Doni saw two yellows in quick succession when he got a bit shirty with the ref himself for not giving a free kick after Vieira bowled over Pellegrino. So Inter restored their advantage at the top to four points but are still definitely feeling Roma’s pressure and unrelenting surge to nab the Scudetto at the death. Anyone remember 2002? Let’s not see a repeat of that!

In other matches, AC Milan defeated Cagliari at home 3-1. Highlights below.

Also Roma defeated Genoa 3-2 but not without a fight and an entertaining battle. See highlights below too.

Check out this nice Zico compilation I found on who ate all the pies. The man was a legend and just simply amazing with his free kicks.

Tonights Champion’s League match at the Emirates stadium ended 1-1 under controversial circumstances. Adebayor rose up to nod home a corner kick after 23 minutes but Liverpool retaliated quickly. Gerard made an intelligent run past two defenders and centered the ball along the 6 yard line for Kuyt to slide it in on 26 minutes (although it may have actually come off Clichy in the end). The remainder of the match was pretty much all Arsenal trying to break down 9-10 men behind the ball and Liverpool were only really putting long balls through for Torres. The moment of controversy came on 65 minutes when Hleb slalomed through several defenders and was then clearly brought down by Kuyt only for the ref to award a corner instead of a spot kick. Five minutes later Arsenal had their best chance to get back ahead when the ball found Fabregas whose outstretched foot had guided it towards the net, only needing to roll in with the keeper beaten, until Bentner stepped in and cleaned up on Liverpool’s behalf. A stunning goal line blunder where he only needed to open his legs and let it roll through. Video highlights to follow later.