Inter celebrated 100 years of separation from the club that later became AC Milan and did not want foreigners in the game. They did so in style as they defeated Reggina 2-0 at home. The win is a much needed confidence booster after their shock defeat last week at the hands of Napoli to end their unbeaten season. Also it should help them mentally to take on Liverpool in a few days. A do or die match to stay alive in the champions league and a very difficult task indeed. At least Ibrahimovic is back after knee worries but the back line will be irregular to say the least! Cordoba and Samuel’s seasons are over and Materazzi is suspended for the coming match. It will probably see Burdisso and Chivu together as long as the latter can shake off his shoulder problem. Either way, enjoy the highlights of the serie A match.
Two late goals from Fabregas and Adebayor at the San Siro saw Milan crash out of the champions league to top off a very disappointing season for the club. They’re struggling to even make one of the four spots for next year with Fiorentina several points ahead of them. Video highlights below.
Good see Walcott ride that Kaladze challenge and go on to set up Adebayor. It’s refreshing to see a young player that will stay on their feet when they could easily fall and make a meal out of it.
Fiorentina came from behind in the dying minutes to snatch full points of Juventus and defeated them 3-2 in the 3rd vs 4th place battle. Fiorentina are now only one point behind them. See the highlights below.
Roma defeated Parma in style, 4-0. The win sees them just 6 points off league-leaders Inter after the nerazzuri had their 31 game undefeated streak stopped by Napoli, a 1-0 loss on the trot. More quality highlights below.
Inter welcomed Roma to the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in this entertaining top-table battle. Inter had to do without Ibrahimovic, Samuel and Cordoba because of injury while the visitors had Cicinho suspended. The match started with a fast tempo and both teams had several chances early on, Inter firing over the bar a couple of times while Roma forced Julio Cesar to come out a lot. Crespo had an amazing volley ricochet off the post and roll across the face of goal rather than into the net.
Roma were more and more involved in the game as the half wore on and finally put a goal away Vucinic left Maicon behind before passing to Tonetto who crossed for Totti to strike the ball into the bottom corner. Burdisso almost equalised at the end of the half with a free header but couldn’t keep it down. The chances continued for both parties in the second half but good goal-keeping kept out any shots that weren’t blasted just wide or over. On 67 minutes Inter were reduced to ten men and it wasn’t because of a red card. Maxwell had to go off with an ankle injury but all the subs were used already. Roma took full hold of this opportunity and began an assault on Inter’s goal. The home side had some luck come their way as Roma were reduced to ten men when Mexes picked up a 2nd yellow on 83 minutes. Soon after Crespo almost equalised with a powerful header. Finally with two minutes to go, Zanetti fired a volley past Doni from the edge of the area to equalise and send the home crowd wild.
Inter paid a visit to Sampdoria this week hoping to put the Champion’s League defeat to Liverpool behind them. Unfortunately the trip to Anfield cost them the services of solid and speedy Cordoba. He damaged the ACL in his knee and will be out for some time. Mancini also had to rest Ibrahimovic and Cruz with the former also suffering from a knee injury although much less severe. Crespo and Suazo were paired up and given a start although neither was particularly impressive.
The match was all Sampdoria to begin with as Cassano continued to inspire and dictate play. Inter slowly began to assert themselves more and more as the game continued but Sampdoria gave them a warning shot on 47 minutes. A goal that was ruled out for offside. Not long after, Cassano’s perseverance paid off as he squeezed past the Inter defense and smashed a rocket into the net on 65 minutes. The goal must’ve shocked Inter into gear as they desperately worked to salvage something from this match.
Crespo was finally able to find the net and preserve Inter’s unbeaten domestic record. The Argentine put away a diving header from a Stankovic cross. Inter grabbed a point to take home but Roma closed the gap to 9 points. A very important match between the two will take place on Wednesday, the result could be enough to put the Scudetto beyond reach or really open up the title race. Enjoy the video highlights below.
Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw by Birmingham but the talking point of the match was the disgusting tackle on Eduardo da Silva by Martin Taylor. You can see the footage below that he wasn’t interested in the ball and had plenty of time to pull out of it. He received a straight red but I hope he gets a serious ban for his actions. They suspect that Eduardo may have a broken leg and the game had to be stopped for eight minutes just to treat him before removing him from the field.
Seems they’ve removed that video so here’s one that’s not quite as good but shows the tackle well enough (at least until it gets removed!).
Cordoba went to ground during the second half of the champions league encounter between Inter and Liverpool. He was immediately replaced and could be seen clutching his knee in some pain. It’s been revealed that the damage is worse than first expected and he has injured his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). This injury is much more common in soccer than Ronaldo’s injury which ruptured his patella tendon but it can be about as serious. Cordoba may have only partially torn his ACL but will still need surgery. He is definitely out of the return leg where Inter have their work cut out. A real shame as he was solid as ever during the match.
Continuing my post from yesterday’s match, there was a good chance for Liverpool just after the restart when Finnan played a 1-2 and could have caused a lot of trouble if he wasn’t blocked. Mancini was forced to remove Cruz for Vieira on 54 minutes and leave Ibrahimovic alone in attack due to the missing player. On 57 minutes, Julio Caesar was called into action again, saving brilliantly after Torres received a fortunate rebound which set him on his way. On the hour mark Vieira was lucky not to give away a penalty after handling the ball in the area and Liverpool continued their domination in everything except goals. 73% possession in the second half and so many chances. Torres almost found the net a few minutes later and Lucas was replaced by Crouch in an attempt to use his ridiculous height.
It wasn’t until 67 minutes until Inter had their first corner and a minute later Ibrahimovic and Cambiasso were involved in a nice interchange which ultimately saw the Swede in an offside position. Rafa replaced Babel with Pennant, hoping to use his pace on the right but he caused little worry for Inter. Vieira had a shot but it was quite wide. A couple of minutes later Crouch had a real chance but he wasted it in trying to do too much. Unfortunately, Cordoba fell awkwardly and had to go off for Burdisso, a real shame because he was solid the entire match prevent any and all Liverpool attacks. On 82 minutes Inter had a good chance on the break with Vieira running at the defense but his pass to Ibrahimovic was lacking. Finally in the 84th minute Liverpool scored. Kuyt shot at goal and it was deflected downward off Maicon’s boot and ended up bouncing just in front of Julio Cesar who did not have time to readjust. Five minutes later Gerrard sealed the win with a shot into the far post.
Inter will host Liverpool in the return leg but have a lot to do now thanks to bad refereeing. Check out the highlights below.
The first half of this heavyweight clash began with the home side having most of the possession and pressuring Inter a lot in the first 10 minutes. The ref was handing out yellow cards like they were going out of fashion as Torres fell with any light knock. On three minutes the first went to Chivu with Aurellio putting the resulting free kick over the bar. Julio Cruz and Cordoba were solid in denying the early Liverpool chances. On 11 minutes, Materazzi picked up a yellow which was very soft as Torres fell while out-pacing the Italian to the ball.
Liverpool were marking Ibrahimovic very tightly and allowing very little space for Inter’s attack. As time went on Inter began to get into the match a lot more but generally sloppy passing was preventing them building up well. With 29 minutes on the clock, another soft Torres drop to the ground saw Materazzi pick up his second yellow and head off for an early shower. An incredibly harsh and ridiculous decision which left Inter with a lot to do. Next Torres tried to lure Cambiasso with a few cheeky slaps on the face as the young Spaniard gave away a free kick but the experienced midfielder wasn’t falling for his bait. On 44 minutes Liverpool had one of their best chances with a cut across the face of goal but now one to put it away and Maicon cleared fairly casually.
Barely a minute of stoppage time as the teams paused for the break but Inter with a great deal to do now! More to follow later…
