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| | Spotlight: Rossi alert |
Monday 14 May, 2007
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| Football Italia rounds up the winners and the losers from Week 36 of the Serie A season |
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The winners…
Giuseppe Rossi (Parma)
Arguably the best signing of the January transfer window, the Manchester United-owned starlet netted a vital brace in the 4-1 win over Messina. His lively attacking displays have breathed new life into the club whom he left under a cloud as a youngster. Where would Parma be without their baby phenomenon now? Probably Serie B…
Hernan Crespo (Inter)
The Argentine recently spoke of his desire to keep out of the spotlight in the hope that Chelsea would forget to recall him from his loan spell at Inter this month. He needs a plan B after he followed up his Coppa Italia Final brace with a hat-trick against former club Lazio on Sunday. He’s a top class striker and the Stamford Bridge outfit know it.
Giampaolo Pazzini (Fiorentina)
With Luca Toni’s summer sale looking more and more certain, there’s a place up for grabs in the Fiorentina attack next season and Giampaolo Pazzini wants it. After already finding the back of the net recently for club and country, the Under-21 starlet netted the winner against Cagliari. It wasn’t a vintage strike by any means, but it was enough.
The losers…
Cristian Chivu (Roma)
Once considered as one of the best foreign stoppers in Serie A, the Romanian has had an unhappy end to his season. After his catastrophic Old Trafford showing in the Champions League, he was at fault for the 1-0 loss to Torino yesterday when he allowed Roberto Muzzi to score against his former club.
Nicolas Burdisso (Inter)
The Argentine had a highly uncomfortable 90 minutes against Lazio in the Nerazzurri’s 4-3 win. So often a positive at the back for Inter this term, Burdisso hardly had an error-free afternoon and should have seen red for a reckless two-footed challenge that could have caused serious injury.
Richard Vanigli (Empoli)
Already 1-0 down to Siena – a side battling for their Serie A lives – Empoli’s hopes of getting back into the game basically vanished with the ludicrous dismissal of Vanigli after just 34 minutes. Two stupid bookings in the space of nine minutes means Empoli will have to wait to book their place in Europe next term.
The goals…
Viktor Boudianski (Ascoli)
Some called him the ‘new Pavel Nedved’ while he was at Juventus and Boudianski netted a goal that the Czech would have been proud of against Palermo. Having been awarded a free-kick all of 30 yards from goal, the midfielder went for it and was rewarded with a real beauty. He followed that up with another free-kick in the second half.
Gionatha Spinesi (Catania)
Catania’s most lethal Serie A striker in history netted again at the weekend with a goal of the highest standard. With the ball hanging in the air, the former Bari youngster co-ordinated himself to perfection and volleyed a low drive into the bottom corner of the net to give Milan’s Nelson Dida no chance.
Cristian Ledesma (Lazio)
He doesn’t net many, but when he does they are often memorable. After already bursting the net in the Rome derby this season, Ledesma left his mark at the San Siro by curling in a wonderful free-kick that found the top corner of Julio Cesar’s Inter goal.
The numbers…
Spin doctor
Gionatha Spinesi celebrated the birth of his daughter with his fifth goal in five games. The Catania striker now has 17 in the top flight this term. The 1-1 with Milan was also the fifth draw in 10 Serie A meetings between the two. The Rossoneri just edge the wins with three.
Change the record…
Inter may have won the title, but they are still collecting records. They have now won 29 League games this term – equalling the record of Torino in 1947-48 when they played 40 games. They have also set a new points record in a 20-team Serie A seeing as they currently have 93. The previous best was 91 by Torino 1946-47 and Juventus 2005-06.
Hat-trick quartet
Hernan Crespo’s hat-trick against Lazio was only the fourth of the campaign. Other treble kings have been Rolando Bianchi of Reggina, Catania’s Gionatha Spinesi and Cristiano Lucarelli of Livorno. The Argentine now has 14 in Serie A.
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| Words: Antonio Labbate |
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Past Spotlights
A unique review of each round of the 2006-07 Serie A campaign. More |
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