Carvalho Amauri has finally been confirmed as new Fiorentina player and he immediately set up some targets with his new experience with the Florence based outfit with returning to play with Italian national team as his main objective.

Amauri’s deal has officially been announced by the Viola on their official website as the striker reportedly will be presented on Wednesday, something that has been anticipated for quite a while after some delays in the transfer process.

Stating his excitement with new adventure at Fiorentina to Radio Tuscany, Amauri revealed how he has really missed playing on the pitch again and can’t really wait to finally get started with the Viola after his tough times at Juventus. The former Palermo striker immediately admitted that he still dreams of wearing the Azzurri jersey again especially in the upcoming Euro and his ready to show national team coach, Cesare Prandelli, all his qualities with the Florence based club.

I am very happy to arrive here and I’m looking forward to it. The national team is still my goal, I believe, but only by playing and performing well will I have the opportunity to convince Prandelli. I hope to win the prize of a return to the Azzurri, because it is on my list of ambitions for this second part of the season. It all depends on my performances for Fiorentina,” Amauri stated.

Furthermore, the striker also believes that despite not doing so well in the league at the moment, Fiorentina remains a quality side that can improve their performance in the second half of the season. Amauri also added that he will dedicate his first goal with the Viola jersey to his family as they have been his source of joy during difficult times with the Turin giant, who never gives the striker any playing time especially this season.

“For me, La Viola are a great team, a leading figure in Italian football. There is everything to improve in such a difficult period, but I think that with my contribution, we can get out of this,” Amauri added. The last few months have not been easy, a period of suffering, but I’ve had the help of my family more than anything. The first goal, when it comes, will be dedicated to them.”

Fiorentina fans obviously hope that Amauri can prove his words and helps the Tuscany gets back on their track again since things have really been difficult at the moment for Delio Rossi’s team. There’s a big fear among the club’s faithful that should their club didn’t do well this season, next summer more important stars will be leaving the club and make things lot harder for the Viola’s future.

 
photo credit: _bianconero

Being linked with a move to several clubs already this winter, Juventus’ unwanted striker, Carvalho Amauri, apparently already set his mind in playing for Fiorentina for the remaining of the season.

The striker himself revealed that ambition to the press, adding his hope that his move to Florence could be done as soon as possible as he can’t wait to play again.

Amauri, who hasn’t been given much playing time in the first part of this season revealed that despite not seeing the pitch that much, he is still training regularly to get himself on shape for his new club. The ex-Palermo striker would definitely be perfect for Fiorentina as the Florence based club are really dying to add new center forward this January after losing Alberto Gilardino to Genoa since the start of this month.

You all know full well what is happening, I hope it can be done as soon as possible. I am continuing to train so I can be ready to step on to the field. I am awaiting a response and we’ll see what happens,” Amauri told Lady Radio.

The Brazilian born striker hasn’t been included as part of Juventus’ first team since last season and actually spent a pretty good six months at Parma, where he scored several important goals for the Gialloblu. However, early this summer, Amauri failed to reach any agreement with other clubs, so he stayed with the Turin giant and faced the risk of being frozen from the first team since the club’s coach, Antonio Conte, also doesn’t want the ex-Palermo striker on his squad.

photo credit: _bianconero

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)

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Ac Milan temporarily reached the top spot of Serie A after picking up an important victory over Cagliari on Tuesday, an own goal from Pisano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s excellent effort gave the Rossoneri a comfortable two goals lead.

Meanwhile in the other game, Fiorentina still can’t get their consistent form going after failing to pick up a victory against Siena in the Tuscan derby, a result which will force Delio Rossi to improve the Viola’s performance in the new year.

In Sardinia, Ac Milan collected a pretty comfortable victory over Cagliari and it took them only four minutes to take the lead through Pisano’s own goal after the player tried to block Robinho’s cut back which was about to reach Antonio Nocerino. It wasn’t an easy game actually for the Rossoneri especially with the heavy rain and also bad pitch which isn’t actually suitable for the club’s passing game style, forcing them to get into more physical battle with the home team players.

However, even without hitting third gear, Milan managed to secure the three points in the second half after Ibrahimovic flicked passed Cagliari goal keeper shuts down the home team’s resistance. Tiredness were visible on the Rossoneri player’s performance but they will get their needed rest with the current break before starting the season again in January.

Meanwhile, the Tuscan Derby ended in disappointment as both Fiorentina and Siena can’t seem to find the back of the net despite both teams actually have several goal scoring chances both in the first half and also second period. However, poor finishing from both teams pretty much forced them to settle for just a point in the last match before the temporary Christmas break, obviously not a pretty gift for the fans who were expecting something more before the end of year.

There will still several more matches on Wednesday, which could decide the league positions especially at the top before the new year. Milan are expecting that the outcome from Udinese-Juventus match won’t change their current position in the table as leading the Serie A before the break could give a sense of satisfaction for the Rossoneri players.

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Riccardo Montolivo’s time with his current club, Fiorentina, set to meet its end, but his future club remains uncertain at the moment despite Ac Milan reportedly being the top candidate in netting the Italian international.

However, latest reports from Italy suggested that the Rossoneri might be facing tough competition in acquiring the ex-Atalanta player’s signature after Juventus are being rumored to hijack Montolivo’s potential move to Milanello.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Juventus’ director general, Beppe Marrota are planning to tempt Fiorentina in releasing Montolivo this January by offering some players that the Viola might be interested in. The offer might really be interesting for the Florence based outfit especially it they do have an affection for a certain unused members from the Bianconeri, as the Turin giant does have several quality players, who might be considering to leave the club this winter.

However, if previous rumors that said Montolivo already had a personal agreement with Milan is true than Juventus’s attempt in hijacking the player might be useless, since it’s almost impossible to change that situation. Of course, the Bianconeri could try to make a better personal offer for the midfielder, but the fact that Montolivo has already turned down As Roma’s proposal this summer, kinda gives the impression that he already set his mind on a certain club.

Still, nothing is concrete for the moment as Montolivo himself has already stated that he will explain more about his future in January, where the transfer market re-opens. The latest news stated that Milan are eying to pick him up in the winter because the long term injuries that hits Gennaro Gattuso and Mathieu Flamini, the former has already trained again but his condition is still being monitored at the moment.

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A worrying news arrives from Fiorentina camp ahead of their upcoming difficult tie against Ac Milan on Saturday as reports from Italy suggested that the Viola might be missing Stevan Jovetic due to injury.

Revealed by the Florence based club’s website, Jovetic reportedly picked up a muscular lesion during the player’s international duty with Montenegro this past weekend, the club’s medical team is monitoring the injury and hoping that Jojo could make the Milan game.

This news is obviously a concerning thing for Fiorentina, especially their new coach, Delio Rossi, who could definitely use Jovetic’s contribution in the match against Milan. The Montenegro international has been in a pretty good form this season, contributing a lot on his club’s attack by scoring important goals and also created openings along with chances.

Should Fiorentina really loses Jovetic against Milan, they will definitely have a tougher job when facing the Rossoneri especially in trying to break down the fashion capital’s defense, which consist of quality players such as Thiago Silva, Alessandro Nesta or maybe Philippe Mexes. Jojo has really been a major force in driving the Viola’s attack this season especially with inconsistent form of Riccardo Montolivo, who seems to have his mind out of Fiorentina already.

However, there’s still a big hope that Jovetic could make the cut on Saturday as the Fiorentina medical team are working intensively to fix the player’s problem at the moment. With an immediate medical action, obviously the Viola’s doctors is hoping that the attacking midfielder could at least play up to 90% of his physical condition, considering the importance of the match for the Florence based outfit.

Jovetic appearance has been pretty surprising and encouraging this season as many wouldn’t thought that he might need a bit more time to get his touch back after missing most of last season due to bad knee injury. The Montenegro international has really been one of the most attractive player in Serie A this season, steering the Viola in plenty of matches, despite that they’re not actually in a pretty good form in this start of the season.

photo credit: “il Carca”-Enrico Carcasci

It what should be the end of the Calciopoli scandal, former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi was sentenced to five years and four months in jail today for his role in the match-fixing case which led to Juventus being relegated and stripped of their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles.

Moggi was found guilty of sporting fraud and conspiracy by an Italian court in the criminal trial linked to the affair. Fiorentina owners and brothers Andrea and Diego Della Valle and Lazio president Claudio Lotito were each sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined 25,000 euros each.

Former referee selector Paolo Bergamo was sentenced to three years and eight months and his colleague Pierluigi Pairetto to one year and 11 months.

However none of the guilty defendants are likely to actually spend any time in jail due to Italy‘s lengthy appeals process and the reluctance of judges to send non-violent criminals to jail.

This was the second jail suspension for Moggi, who was previously convicted of trying to manipulate the transfer market via a management agency in a separate criminal trial. Then he was given a one-year prison sentence, but has yet to serve a day in jail on that charge.

As a result of the scandal, Juventus were demoted to the second division and were stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles.

AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina were also involved in the scandal, known as Calciopoli, and were penalised with points deductions.

Sinijsa Mihajlovic, finally must end his adventure with Fiorentina after failing to consistent result for Fiorentina in the last few Serie A matches, which caused the Viola getting into a crisis period after facing another defeat last weekend.

The Viola’s management, couldn’t bare any more time as they confirmed Delio Rossi as their new tactician, who will start his adventure right after the international break with a contract set until June 30, 2013, a pretty normal time line for a new coach in Italian football.

Mihajlovic’s seat has been disputed since the start of season as many Fiorentina fans have been voicing out their disappointment towards the former Inter Milan player since the young tactician didn’t do that well in his first season. Reports also claim that Miha’s inability to continue Cesare Prandelli’s work in building the Viola as an at least exciting team in Serie A, pretty much become the ultimate thing that enraged the tifosi, who have been spoil with quality performances in recent times.

The appointment of Delio Rossi is also a pretty unique surprising decision but could actually be the perfect choice for Fiorentina as the former Palermo coach had plenty experience in guiding a strong mid-up table team such as the Viola at the moment. Rossi’s ability to create an exciting team such as visible from his Lazio or Palermo’s side, could very well suited the Florence based side, who actually have a pretty interesting squad list, consisting players such as Riccardo Montolivo, Juan Vargas, Alberto Gilardino, Mattia Cassani, Stevan Jovetic, Andrea Lazzarri and also Adam Llajic.

It would be interesting to see on how quick Rossi can create a chemistry with his player to form a good team like what many Fiorentina fans have been wanting since the departure of Prandelli to the Italian national team couple seasons ago. The ex-Palermo tactician has an advantage as he arrived during an international break, meaning he has some time to know some of the players, who didn’t get a call up from their national teams, and prepare them for the upcoming match, which unfortunately won’t be easy as the Viola will be facing Ac Milan.

 
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Alberto Gilardino picked up a knee injury which apparently forced him to leave the playing field for about five-six weeks but the striker was pretty much relief with that news because he believes things could actually got worse.

Gillardino admitted that the latest diagnosed from the Fiorentina medical team give him a bit serenity as at the time the injury happened during a match against Udinese, the Italian international striker already prepared for a much more worse outcome considering the pain was immense.

Gilardino hurt his knee after a collision with Udinese goal keeper, Samir Handanovic, in Fiorentina latest Serie A match, where they lose 2-0 to the Bianconeri. The Italian international striker revealed that he was so scared about his injury especially since the pain simply isn’t something that can be taken for granted, not to mention the fact that his knee did looked bending backward.

The test results gave me a big sigh of relief this morning. Fortunately it was less serious than we thought. The pain was horrendous and I was so scared, but the medical staff have reassured me. I want to thank all the fans, colleagues and everyone who in this time showed me incredible affection. We’ll see each other on the field soon,” Gilardino revealed.

The news maybe a bit relieving for the player but probably won’t be that much for Fiorentina’s coach, Sinijsa Mihaljovic, since Gilardino is the club’s main man up front and obviously one of the star players for the Firenze based outfit. Losing the Italian international, who already donated a goal for his club this season obviously will forced Mihaljovic to make some new adjustment in his striking department for quite a while.

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Fiorentina’s final hope in keeping their star midfield man, Riccardo Montolivo has pretty much ended as the club’s president Mario Cognigni confirmed that there will be no more negotiation with the player as Montolivo re-affirmed his desire to leave.

Cognini revealed that the latest talks regarding the player’s potential renewal apparently didn’t ended the way that the Florence based outfit wanted as instead of agreeing to the new renewal being offered, the Italian international once again re-instated his wish of leaving for a bigger club.

“He confirmed his desire to leave and now the matter is closed. He explicitly said he has ambitions for a more successful club than Fiorentina. He does not believe in our project,” Cognini said. “We get the feeling the player heard calls from outside sources. By reacting like this, he proved he is no longer a Fiorentina player and does not belong here.”

Despite stating a very strict statement regarding Montolivo’s future, Cognini stated that the Viola’s management have no intention in freezing the player from the squad as all decisions is on the hands of the current coach, Sinijsa Mihaljovic. Although he is still under contract, there’s always a chance that the Italian international won’t be used again by the team this season considering he has pretty much disappointed the club, should Fiorentina does that though, the midfielder would definitely leave on January as he is eying for a spot in the Italian national team for Euro 2012, which can only be earned by constantly playing.

“However, Montolivo is under contract and remains at the disposal of Sinisa Mihajlovic, so the Coach will decide whether to play him or not.”

The fact that he is reportedly being linked with some top clubs such as Ac Milan and Bayern Munich can actually influenced the club’s decision as should Montolivo indeed decided to leave in January than Fiorentina could at least make a little money from the sale. However, should the 26-years-old skillful midfielder is being allowed to finish his final season, when his contract runs out in 2012, the Viola must allow to lose one of their best player without any compensation.

Rumors spreading heavily this summer that Montolivo already had a verbal agreement with Milan when his contract ends in the summer, so it’s definitely interesting to see whether the rumors are true or not, although from the current condition it does leading into that path. Still, should the player is indeed being frozen out, then there could still be a battle in the market for his signature as Fiorentina will obviously looked for clubs who arrives with the most adequate offer for the player.

photo credit: ViolaChannel