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| | Week 1 spotlight: Adriano cleans up | Monday 29 August, 2005 |
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 Player of the Week: Adriano (Inter)
Inter’s title challenge was always going to depend on the goals of Adriano and he opened his Serie A account this term in some style. The L'Imperatore again illustrated exactly why he is so crucial to the Nerazzurri with a sublime hat-trick against Serie A new boys Treviso, instantly underlining the San Siro outfit’s Scudetto credentials.
This young Brazilian prodigy is the planet’s best striker right now. His unique combination of pace, power and accuracy make him an untouchable figure on the world scene. Give him the ball and he’ll put it away, no matter where he receives it – as Treviso found out to their cost at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
Starting the season well was important to Inter but perhaps more so to Adriano himself. He is now the club’s most recognised attacker, following the summer departure of Christian Vieri to city rivals Milan. The pressure is on him to deliver the goals expected, but he seems to have accepted that pressure as if it was an inch-perfect assist on the football field.
His performance should also silence those who feared that Adriano was becoming tired of his club’s lack of success. Perhaps winning at places such as Chelsea and Real Madrid would be easier, but he’s archived the numerous transfer rumours regarding his talent and is just concentrating on netting the honours that his ability will no doubt one day deliver.
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Goal of the Week: Adriano (Inter)
Week 1 saw a sprinkling of fine goals up and down the peninsula, with Udinese’s Sulley Ali Muntari, Livorno striker Cristiano Lucarelli and Christian Terlizzi of Palermo netting beauties. However, Adriano’s first in the 3-0 win over Treviso was arguably the best strike of the opening round of Serie A.
In many ways, it was a classic Adriano goal even if credit must also be given to Marco Materazzi for his simply awesome cross-field pass to liberate the Brazilian. Adriano collected the ball near the touchline in the middle of the Treviso half, skipped past Stefano Lorenzi with his pace and power, before cutting inside and unleashing a fierce low left-foot finish between the goalkeeper and his near post.
Adriano has now scored an astonishing 58 goals in 107 Serie A matches. That’s an average of 0.54 goals a game.
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 Number of the Week: 42
Siena were incredibly awarded their first penalty for 42 Serie A matches on Sunday. Referee Christian Brighi pointed to the spot when Enrico Chiesa was fouled in the box during the 2-1 win over Cagliari. Their last spot-kick was back on April 18, 2004, when Pierluigi Collina blew his whistle in a game against Milan. Siena also 'top' the table for the first time in their history. |
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| Words: Antonio Labbate |
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