Napoli ended Inter Milan’s wonderful winning run in the Italian Cup thanks to two goals from Edinson Cavani, the result automatically puts the Partenopei advancing into the semi final where they’ll meet Siena.

The match also marked the return of the Southern Italian club’s Argentinian forward, Ezequiel Lavezzi, who has been out for quite sometime due to thigh injury, however he still hasn’t found his touches as just yet on the night.

Napoli’s match up against Inter in the Cup is something that Mazzarri and his boys waited as they’re looking to take revenge on last season’s failure in the same competition against the Nerazzurri. The home team took the initiative immediately from the kick off and created several openings, notably from Cavani and also Marek Hamsik.

Some controversies already arrived in the first period when Wesley Sneijder escaped a straight red card after committing a horribly dangerous tackle on Walter Gargano, which could really sent the Uruguayan into medical room. However, the match continues without anyone getting red carded as both teams created goal scoring chances with the Partenopei being a little bit ahead maximizing their home turf advatage.

Despite being more dominant in the attack, It took around 50 minutes for Napoli to take the lead and it was Cavani who crafted the opening from the spot kick after Thiago Motta tripping the Uruguayan striker in the penalty area. The Nerazzurri tried their best to get back into the game but the Partenopei hold on well until the final minutes and even managed to seal the victory deep in extra time from Cavani’s double in the match.

Meanwhile, in the other match, 10 men Siena stunned Chievo with a goal from substitute player, Mattia Destro, who scored from point blank after receiving a flick from midfielder Alessandro Gazzi. The result puts Giuseppe Sannino’s side into the semifinal, which is a rare occasion for them and it would be interesting in seeing whether they will go for broke considering they will be facing Napoli in the next round.

Match Reports:

Napoli v Inter 2-0
Goals: Cavani pen 50, 93 (Napoli)
Napoli:De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Gargano, Inler (Dzemaili 81), Zuniga; Hamsik (Dossena 87), Lavezzi (Pandev 65); Cavani
Inter:Castellazzi; Maicon, Ranocchia, Samuel, Chivu; Zanetti, Thiago Motta (Zarate 76), Cambiasso, Obi (Alvarez 46); Sneijder, Milito

Chievo v Siena 0-1
Goal: Destro 54 (Siena)
Chievo: Puggioni; Frey, Morero (Paloschi 64), Mandelli (Bradley 80), Acerbi, Drame; Vacek, Cruzado, Hetemaj (Kirilov 87); Moscardelli, Uribe
Siena: Farelli; Belmonte (Bolzoni 66), Rossettini, Rossi, Angelo; Mannini (Terzi 51), Parravicini, Gazzi, Grossi; Gonzalez (Destro 51), Reginaldo

photo credit: Tanzen80

As Roma carried their fine form in the league to Copa Italia as the Giallorossi stunned Fiorentina 3-0 in Rome, repaying their defeat in the league not long ago from the same team.

Meanwhile, a surprise arrive at Friuli where home team Udinese, were beaten in front of their fans by Chievo Verona, giving the Flying Donkeys a passage to the quarter final against Siena.

Lamela Double Set Roma Flying

Despite winning with three goals margin, Roma didn’t actually face an easy battle against Fiorentina, especially in the first half, when the Viola puts Luis Enrique’s side under a lot of pressure at the back. The home team’s goalie, Marteen Stekelenburg, was forced to make several saves in that first period as Stevan Jovetic and Adan Llajic create several goal scoring chances, which could actually put Delio Rossi’s team in front just before the break.

However, things changed in the second half as the entrance of Simone Perotta apparently improved Roma’s performance which immediately shown with a goal from young Argentinian star, Eric Lamela. The starlet proved his quality in that match as he scored again not long after his first, putting his side two goals up and give a breathing space for Enrique’s side as Fiorentina started to fall apart, leading into the Giallorossi’s third goal, scored by substitute, Fabio Borrini.

Chievo Stunned Udinese at Friuli

Meanwhile, Udinese face a very rare home defeat this season as Chievo surprised Francesco Guidolin’s side, who are yet to be beaten when playing at Friuli this season. It took only eight minute for the away team to start their surprise as Paolo Sammarco puts the Flying Donkeys in the lead after capitalizing on the defensive mistake made by Joel Ekstrand.

Udinese, didn’t actually took things lightly as they pour forward a lot after conceding the early goal, creating several goal scoring chances, which didn’t managed to break Chievo’s defense until Antonio Di Natale strike his wonderful free kick six minutes before the final 90. Just as when the match looked to be heading for an extra time, the away team’s substitute forward, Cyril Thereau, stunned the crowed with his goal in injury time.

Match Reports:

Roma v Fiorentina 3-0

Goals: Lamela 53, 67, Borini 76 (Roma)

Roma:Stekelenburg; Cicinho (Jose Angel 68), Kjaer, Heinze, Taddei; Gago, Viviani (Perrotta 46), Greco; Lamela, Totti, Bojan (Borini 62)
Fiorentina:Neto; Natali, Camporese, Nastasic; Salifu, Pasqual (Vargas 68), Montolivo, Cassani, Behrami (Lazzari 79); Ljajic (Cerci 62), Jovetic

Udinese v Chievo 1-2

Goals: Di Natale 84 (Udinese); Samarco 8, Thereau 91 (Chievo)

Udinese: Handanovic; Ekstrand, Danilo, Ferronetti (Torje 75); Pereyra (Basta 46), Abdi, Sissoko, Fernandes, Pasquale; Fabbrini (Floro Flores 46); Di Natale
Chievo: Puggioni; Sardo, Morero, Acerbi, Drame; Vacek, Rigoni, Sammarco; Cruzado; Moscardelli (Thereau 68), Paloschi (Mandelli 73)

photo credit: prettyfriendship

After facing disappointment in the hands of As Roma last weekend, Napoli run rampant in the midweek as Walter Mazzarri’s team completely demolished Genoa 6-1 at San Paolo.

Meanwhile, at Olympico an uninspiring performance from Lazio earned them only a point against Chievo, something that should be cherished by Edy Reja’s men as they were outplayed by their opponent for the most part of the match.

Six Star Napoli Demolished Genoa.

Napoli players already looking really eager to redeem their previous defeat against Roma at San Paolo and apparently lady luck was not going away from Mazzarri’s team as Edinson Cavani opened the scoring only after 12 minutes. Four minutes later, Marek Hamsik shown his class by netting the home team’s second goal in the match after a fine classic counter attacking move by the Partenopei, which is simply to quick for Genoa’s back line.

Cavani added his tally again in the 24th minute as the striker once again managed to sprung the offside trap and eventually chipped the ball pass Sebastian Frey on Genoa’s goal, to give his side a 3-0 lead. The visitor did managed to pull a goal back though, as few minutes after the Uruguayan star grabbed his double, Jorquera scored a wonderful goal for Alberto Malesani’s team. However, Goran Pandev restored Napoli’s three goals advantage with a fine drilled shot which once again came from a fine counter attack.

Leading 4-1 in the first half, Napoli didn’t simply rest their laurels in the second period as Mazzarri’s boys added two more goals from Walter Gargano’s long range shot and followed by a similar kind of effort from Juan Zuniga. The result obviously gave the Partenopei fans some delight just before the Serie A went into a short break and re-start again sometime in early January.

Disappointing Lazio Held at Olympico

Meanwhile, Lazio failed to get themselves closer with the top three teams as they picked up another draw at home and this time they can consider themselves a little bit lucky in having it since their opponent, Chievo, played much better. Eying to give a present for their fans before the short break, Lazio tried to take the game on their hands but apparently things didn’t really happened the way it was planned for the home team.

The Flying Donkey, who were playing without any sort of pressure managed to dominate the match and created tons of great goal scoring chances, notably from Alberto Paloschi and Sergio Pellisier. The Capital club should really be thanking their keeper, Albano Bizzarri, as he was practically the one who managed to keep Lazio in the match after making several wonderful saves.

Lazio tried to change things a bit in the second period and did create a bit more chances compared to their completely dull first half, but still it was the away team that looked more dangerous. Having Bizzarri continuing to be the Biancocelesti’s best performer on the pitch pretty much said everything about Edy Reja’s side performance, who eventually got booed by their fans after the match end in a 0-0 draw.

Match Reports:

Napoli v Genoa 6-1

Goals: Cavani 12, 24, Hamsik 16, Pandev 45, Gargano 49, Zuniga 80 (Napoli); Jorquera 28 (Genoa)

Napoli: De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro (Fernandez 66), Aronica; Maggio, Inler, Gargano (Dzemaili 59), Zuniga; Hamsik, Pandev (Lucarelli 77); Cavani
Genoa: Frey; Mesto, Granqvist, Dainelli, Kaladze (Marchiori 58), Rossi, Veloso, Seymour (Merkel 50), Jorquera, Pratto, Caracciololo (Jankovic 46)

Lazio v Chievo 0-0

Lazio: Bizzarri; Konko (Kozak 84), Biava, Dias, Radu; Cana, Ledesma, Lulic; Hernanes (Gonzalez 46); Klose, Cissé (Rocchi 64)
Chievo: Sorrentino; Sardo, Andreolli, Cesar, Jokic; Luciano (Sammarco 74), Bradley, Hetemaj; Thereau (Morero 80); Pellissier, Paloschi (Moscardelli 71)

photo credit: Tanzen80

The coaching carousel in Serie A continues with the news that Chievo have hired Domenico Di Carlo for a second time and that Catania have hired Vincenzo Montella.

Di Carlo returns to Chievo after a difficult time at Sampdoria last season.

Di Carlo won plenty of acclaim when he guided low-budget Chievo to mid-table finishes between 2008 and 2010. But his stint at Sampdoria got off to a bad start then Samp were beaten by Werder Bremen in the UEFA Champions League play-offs. After failing to get Sampdoria out of the group stages in the Europa League, Di Carlo’s was on borrowed time. So it was no surprise when he was fired in March.

Di Carlo takes over for Stefano Pioli who went to Palermo.

Vincenzo Montella is the new coach of Catania after impressing during a caretaker stint at Roma last season.

Montella replaces Diego Simeone, who left Catania earlier this month after less than six months in charge. Even though Montella steered Roma to sixth place in Serie A after taking over from Ranieri, he was not offered the job on a full-time basis.

photo credit: Wonderlane

Juventus’s hopes of playing Europa League football next season suffered a huge setback when they were held to a 2-2 at home with Chievo Verona.

Everything seem to be going so well for Juve when Alessandro Del Piero opened the scoring with a 13th-minute penalty. Del Piero then turned provided for Alessandro Matri to to extend Juventus’s lead ten minutes after the break.

Chievo, however, stunned their hosts with two goals in 60 seconds midway through the second half, Fernando Uribe and Gennaro Sardo both scoring with the aid of a rebound off the post. This was the second home game in a row that Juventus have squandered a two-goal lead. In their previous home game they let a two goal lead escape against Catania.

Juventus are now three points behind sixth-placed Lazio for that final Europa League game, with two matches to go and five points behind Udinese for the final Champions League spot. Juve has been linked with a lot of big names for the upcoming transfer window, and not being able to offer European football (even Europa League) will make it that much tougher to entice stars to join the Bianconeri.

photo credit: _bianconero

Napoli’s title hopes are all but over after they shockingly lost 2-1 at home to Udinese.

Napoli, who had won their last four league matches to climb back into the title race, were undone by strikes from Gökhan Inler (55) and former Napoli forward Germán Denis (61). Although Giuseppe Mascara pulled a goal back in added time, Napoli’s night was summed up when Edinson Cavani’s penalty was saved by Samir Handanovič.

Napoli are six points back of leaders AC Milan with five games to go. A lead that I cannot see Milan throwing away.

Udinese, who had Maurizio Domizzi dismissed late on, are now only a point behind fourth-placed Lazio. Eduardo Reja’s side closed to within three points of Inter Milan after putting four past Catania, Hernanes (40), Stefano Mauri (56), Sergio Floccari (78) and Mauro Zárate (89) on target in Sicily.

Juventus, however, missed out on the chance to leapfrog Roma into sixth following a goalless draw at Fiorentina.

Brescia’s relegation worries increased following a 3-0 defeat by Genoa, while ten-man Chievo Verona, in twelfth, beat Bologna 2-0. Elsewhere, Lecce scored in added time to draw 3-3 with Cagliari and Cesena are out of the relegation zone thanks to a 1-0 victory against bottom club Bari.

Top of the table
1. AC Milan: 71 points
2. Napoli: 65 points
3. Inter Milan: 63 points
4. Lazio: 60 points
5. Udinese: 59 points

Inter Milan bounced back after a terrible week by beating Chievo 2-0 to keep their title aspirations intact.

Inter, whose 3-0 Derby della Madonnina defeat by AC Milan was followed by a 5-2 midweek humbling at the hands of Schalke 04 in the Champions League, needed a win to restore morale and their hopes of securing a sixth successive Scudetto. Goalless at the break, second-half strikes by Esteban Cambiasso and Maicon completed their mission.

The win took the Nerazzurri a point above second-placed Napoli, who visit Bologna on Sunday, and within two of leaders Milan, away to Fiorentina the same day. Chievo’s defeat leaves them six points clear of the bottom three.

Udinese thought that they had done enough to salvage a point against Roma and keep their Champions League challenge on track after Antonio Di Natale’s 26th league goal of the campaign cancelled out Francesco Totti’s penalty.

Totti, however, turned in John Arne Riise’s cut-back in added time to move Roma, in sixth, to within three points of the fourth-placed Udinese.

Being stormed with rumors of leaving Ac Milan, Alexandre Pato proved his commitment to the club by securing a three points for the Rossoneri in their latest Serie A match against Chievo Verona on Sunday at Marc Antonio Bentegodi.

The Brazilian starlet, who came into the pitch as second half substitute, scored the winning goal that gave Milan the precious three points which kept their five points gap with Inter.

Coming into the game after a disappointing defeat against Tottenham Hotspurs in the Champions League, Milan looked a little bit rugged as Chievo were pressuring very hard in the midfield giving little space for the Rossoneri players. Despite a difficult start, the away team did eventually managed to control the game and created few openings in front of the Flying Donkey’s goal, after series of attacking moves, Massimiliano Allegri’s team finally took the lead though Robinho.

The Brazilian slot the ball easily after receiving a pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic inside Chievo’s penalty box, however the goal seemed a bit controversial as Robinho suspiciously using a bit of his upper arm in controlling Ibrahimovic’s downward header. Despite the suspicion, the goal stood still and it began to spark the game to life as the home team left some spaces at the back because their intention in getting the equalizer. Although few good goal scoring chances appeared for both teams, the first half ended in a 1-0 victory for Milan.

The second half started in a comfortable way for the Rossoneri, that are looking calm in playing their possession football while keep on creating one or two chances in front of the Chievo’s goal. However, a lapse of concentration at the back allowed the home team to get back into the game as Kevin Constant puts on a looping ball that found Gelson Fernandez in the far post to headed the ball pass Christian Abbiati in Milan’s goal. Youngster, Merkel showed a bit of inexperience in helping the defense as he failed to track down Fernandez that comes from his side.

In danger of losing more points from their competitors, Allegri, throw down his cards by putting Pato and also Kevin Prince Boateng on the pitch replacing Antonio Cassano and Merkel. The inclusion of the first two players give more speed and energy to Milan’s playing as they pour on the attack even harder and pinned the home team back in defending. Combination of some good saves from Chievo’s keeper, Sorrentino and good defending seemed to frustrated Milan for a while, before Pato suddenly showed a little bit of his Brazilian magic by swerving pass two defenders before placing his shot to the far post, deceiving the keeper.

The goal gave Milan the breath of fresh air and began to relax them a bit as the Rossoneri keeps on creating chances after chances that in the end led to the dismissal of Chievo’s defender, Bostjan Cesar, for a second bookable foul. Luckily for the home team, the time is running out as the man advantage that the Rossoneri had didn’t gave them enough time to get more goals, despite creating few more chances in the last minutes of the second half.

Match Reports:

Chievo v Ac Milan 1-2

Goals: Fernandes 63 (Chievo); Robinho 25, Pato 82 (Milan)

Chievo: Sorrentino; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini (Oddo 46); Gattuso, Van Bommel, Merkel (Boateng 74); Robinho; Ibrahimovic, Cassano (Pato 65)

Milan: Abbiati; Frey, Morero, Cesar, Mantovani; Fernandes, Rigoni, Pulzetti (Bogliacino 46); Constant (Jokic 70); Pellissier, Thereau (Moscardelli 81)

photo credit: abdallahh

AC Milan extended their lead to six points in Serie A despite a 4-4 home draw with Udinese, though SSC Napoli will be hoping to close in on the Rossoneri when they host Juventus later.

Fans at San Siro were treated to an eight-goal thriller as Milan came from behind three times to force a 4-4 draw. Pato cancelled out Antonio Di Natale’s 35th-minute opener on the stroke of half-time only for Alexis Sánchez (53) and Di Natale (66) to put the visitors 3-1 up, but the hosts rallied through a Medhi Benatia own goal (78) and a second Pato strike (82). Germán Denis (89) then grabbed what looked to be the winner with a minute remaining, yet the league leaders salvaged a point via Zlatan Ibrahimović in added time.

It proved a crucial draw as second-placed Lazio lost 2-1 at home against lowly Lecce to slip further adrift of the summit. Fourth-placed Roma also tasted defeat, losing 2-1 at nine-man Sampdoria after losing Júlio Sérgio to a 55th-minute red card, though their hosts finished with nine men following the late dismissals of centre-backs Daniele Gastaldello and Stefano Lucchini.

Inter came from behind to triumph 2-1 at Catania and lift themselves to seventh, while an even more dramatic comeback ended with Fiorentina turning a 2-0 deficit at home to Brescia into a 3-2 win.

Elsewhere, there were victories for Bologna and Cagliari at Bari and Parma respectively, while Palermo and Genoa were held to 0-0 draws at Chievo and Cesena.

photo credit: Jan S0L0

Just as it was predicted, there’s no escape for the unsporting behavior that Inter Milan’s striker, Samuel Eto’o, did to Chievo defender Bostjan Cesar in both team’s latest meeting in the league last weekend.

In the game that the Flying Donkey won 2-1, the Cameroon striker was spotted head-butting the Slovenian defender in the first half but walked away without any caution and even went on to score the Nerazzuri’s only goal in the match.

However, just as what happened to Juventus’ winger Milos Krasic not so long ago, the league’s disciplinary committee didn’t oversee the incident and now have decided to punish Eto’o with a three match ban along with a 30.000 Euro fine. This punishment will definitely bring a big blow for Inter’s progress in the Serie A as the three match ban means that the Cameroon international won’t be playing any more games in the league considering that the Nerazzurri will have to play in the FIFA Club World Cup in December.

Considering the huge dependency that Inter currently have with the ex-Barcelona striker in scoring goals, the next three games that the Nerazzurri have will be a more than difficult task for Rafael Benitez side considering Diego Milito hasn’t been performing as well as last season. The Cameroon striker’s absence means that other players needs to step up their game especially in providing the final touch that have been missing in Inter’s last few matches.

However, as always the final decision might be officially set yet as Inter could still make an appeal against this decision in order to at least reduce the punishment that has been stated the their striker. It would be interesting to see how could the under-fire coach, Benitez, would cope in losing his main goal getter that has already scored 16 goals for Inter until this date.

photo credit: harian olahraga indonesia