A blog about the latest soccer news, best players, transfer talk and anything else about the world game, with a heavy focus on the Selecao and Inter Milan!
The two stand out games of matchday 34 were Milan vs Reggina and Atalanta vs Juventus. The first saw Kaka’ return to his usual blistering form by shaking off his niggling injuries to bag a hat-trick and complete a game that ended in a 5-1 drubbing of bottom-placed Reggina. While Del Piero impressed even more, grabbing his own hat-trick without the need for any penalties and leading his side to a 4-0 assault on Atalanta. Enjoy the highlights below.
Roma were held at home by Livorno last night and hence dropped two vital points in the chase to beat Inter to another Scudetto. They’ll rue a lot of wasted chances as really they should’ve been a few in front by half-time. No goals in the first half but ten minutes after the restart, Vucinic scored a lovely looping header over Livorno keeper, Amelia. They took the foot off the gas and in the 83rd minute were punished by a well taken Diamanti free-kick, finding the top right corner. Amelia then kept Livorno in the game with a couple of nice saves and they can take home a share of the spoils.
Inter have a good chance to put 6 points between them and Roma tonight. Video highlights below.
With five weeks still left of the Portuguese league, Porto have wrapped up their third straight title at home against Estrela Amadora. They unleashed a 6-0 drubbing on their visitors to really kick off the celebrations. Check out the highlights below, great stuff!
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.
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.
Inter had to travel to Rome to face Lazio for round 31. After Roma’s draw to Cagliari they had a good opportunity to increase their lead at the top once again but ended up stumbling also. Crespo was able to put Inter ahead after only 11 minutes when he tapped in a low pass from Maicon but it wasn’t to last. Rocchi left the Inter defense out to dry as he beat the offside trap and slotted past Julio Cesar in the one on one confrontation just before the hour mark. Inter were lucky enough just to come away with a draw and should thank the crossbar for saving their necks not once but twice in the remaining minutes. Hopefully they can get back on track and not throw away their good work like they did in 2002. Highlights below.
England was handed defeat in Paris last night by their neighbours across the channel. The only goal scored was from the penalty spot after England keeper James took down Anelka. Ribery stepped up to convert and sent James the wrong way.
England never really seemed to trouble France as they delivered some very solid defending and also caused no end of trouble up the other end through their speedy flanks and the dangerous Anelka. The match also marked Beckham’s 100th cap although it wasn’t a particularly memorable performance by him. France look to be well prepared for the upcoming Euro competition.
