AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus Tickets
Not many surprises arrives on week 20 in Serie A beside Inter Milan’s seven winning streak end in the hands of Lecce after Guillermo Giacomazzi netted the only goal that clinched the victory.
The Nerazzurri did actually put the ball in the net twice in the second half but all of those goals were correctly disallowed by the referee because of offside.
Having an inconsistent run in their early Serie A matches, both Inter Milan and As Roma looked to get themselves together just before the Christmas break as the two closes the year with comforting victories.
The Nerazzurri trashed their visitor, Lecce, 4-1 at San Siro with Ricky Alvarez providing an inspiration for the home side, while Roma also continue their positive run with another precious away victory, this time against Bologna.
AS Roma strengthened their top-six position in Serie A as David Pizarro converted an added-time penalty to seal a 2-1 victory at Lecce.
Roma will attempt to overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit when they travel to Shakhtar Donetsk for their Champions League round of 16 second leg on Tuesday and the success at the Stadio Via del Mare will have boosted the Giallorossi’s morale.
Mirko Vučinić surged away from the home defence to fire in the 32nd-minute opener for Vincenzo Montella’s charges but parity was restored when Guillermo Giacomazzi headed in. Lecce appeared set to edge four points clear of the relegation zone with a draw until Gianni Munari handled and Pizarro fired in the late winner from the penalty spot.
Surprises never seems to stop happening in Serie A as this weekend shocking results arrives for two big clubs, Juventus and As Roma, that suffered defeats in their latest league matches this weekend.
The Bianconeri suffered a 2-0 defeat against relegation battler Lecce, while the Giallorossi received their fourth loss in a row after the capital club surrender a three goal lead against Genoa.
Ac Milan hasn’t had a really good start in the start of the year as after dropping a point against Udinese last weekend at San Siro, the Rossoneri once again failed to keep their six points lead at the top after being held into a 1-1 draw by Lecce.
Milan’s poor attitude after taking the lead through Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s wonder goal can pretty much be blamed as the cause of their dropped points as the fashion capital side’s lapse of concentration led to the equalizing goal scored by Ruben Oliviera.
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.
Lecce’s Serie A game with bitter southern Italian rivals Bari on January 6 will now be played behind closed doors because of security worries, the home side said in a statement today.
The rivalry on Italy’s heel between Serie A’s two bottom sides is one of the hottest in the country and police have acted following a series of incidents.
Last month Lecce’s Souleymane Diamoutene was accosted by his own fans at a training session because he used to play for Bari while former Bari coach Antonio Conte was attacked on a beach near Lecce two years ago.
It should have been the perfect combination with Totti and Adriano leading Roma’s attack, however, this dream partnership has failed to impress. Adriano’s injury plagued season and Totti’s tense relationship with coach Claudio Ranieri almost saw the scudetto runners up last season doomed to the bottom 3 only 2 months into the new season.
Now, as Roma prepare to face their arch rivals Lazio this Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico, they will have to do it without their iconic captain Francesco Totti who is suspended for the match after being sent off in their 2-0 over Lecce last week.
Italian Serie A top scorer Samuel Eto’o scored the only goal in Inter’s 1-0 win over Cagliari yesterday to take them joint second on the table with city rivals AC Milan.
However, the match was not without any incidents as the referee threatened to stop the game due to racist chants aimed at the Cameroonian international. Not that it dint matter but Eto’o who by now is used to such treatment, did what he knows best and responded by scoring a sublime goal.
The Italian Serie A season gets underway this weekend after a 3 month break with some very mouth watering fixtures key among them being the Udinese v Genoa, Fiorentina v Napoli and Sampdoria v Lazio matches.
This will however not be like any other previous season as the strategic buying that most clubs employed means that the league will be more competitive than previously thought. A good example would have to be Juventus.
While Inter still remain as favourites to repeat their epic treble, the Bianconeri cannot be ruled out especially after acquiring some very talented players. Milos Krasic, Simone Pepe and Leonardo Bonucci are just a few of these players.
