Paolo di Canio - Legend!

dannyd20

Had anyone failed to spot that Paolo di Canio was back in Italy, they'll have no excuses now; the great man's antics in Genoa dominated the opening round of the Serie A season, in a weekend that also saw returns from Veron and Zola, a fine debut goal for Juve's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and a brisk come-uppance for the two Milanese sides.

But first things first: on Sunday night Lazio travelled to Sampdoria for the start of their toughest season in years. Lazio these days are flat broke and unfancied, and a long way from their largesse of old; they only pulled together a third of their squad on the final day of the transfer market, new manager Mimmo Caso is on just £60,000 a season (only slightly more than predecessor Roberto Mancini made in a week), while di Canio, the one big signing, had to accept a 70% pay cut from Charlton just to come to the aid of his beloved former team.

Di Canio duly started on Sunday night, and 25 minutes in, produced the moment that turned the game. With his back to goal, Paolo nonchalantly flicked the ball through to forward Simone Inzaghi, who found himself one-on-one with the Sampdoria 'keeper Antonioli. This proved confusing for both of them; Inzaghi's flailing attempts to control the ball were misread as a dummy by Antonioli, who promptly upended the Lazio striker. Red card for he, penalty for Lazio. Up strides Inzaghi, the side's designated penalty taker, but di Canio already has the ball in his arms and no intention of letting it go. "It is mine. MINE!" he indicates to his hapless colleague. A frustrated Inzaghi looks over to the sidelines, where manager Caso is shouting at him to go and take the kick. "He won't let me" pouts the striker, pointing at Paolo (subtext: he can have me and we both know it). Di Canio duly slots the ball away, and he races towards the Sampdoria fans to celebrate. The rest of the team follow him bar Simone, who stands looking hurt in the centre-circle.

Spare a thought for Inzaghi; a player who's greatest achievement in football has been making his brother Pippo seem manly, he now has Mr Testosterone as a forward partner. And it won't be easy; Sunday, as soon as di Canio had finished squabbling with the Sampdoria players post-goal, he raced up and grabbed Simone by the shirt, incensed by his lack of celebration. So furious was di Canio's expression that players from both teams raced to separate the two. "We had words, sure, but this penalty was just too important to me" explained Paolo later. "This kind of thing is healthy for the club." Well, quite. The rest of the game was hugely uneventful despite Lazio's numerical superiority, but they can be pleased with three points that few would have predicted.

DerekD Goldfish

The game went flat after di canio came off lazio didnt seem interesten in going foward and sampdoria didnt have the ability to deliver a final ball. Nice to see Italian football back