Serie A: Week 2

godtabh

Preview

Serie A: Inter injury woes for tricky Empoli trip

MILAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Goalkeeper Julio Cesar is suspended and Patrick Vieira is an injury doubt for Inter Milan's visit to Empoli on Saturday.

The champions drew 1-1 with Udinese in Sunday's Serie A opener and with AC Milan, AS Roma and Juventus all winning comfortably, the pressure is immediately on coach Roberto Mancini.

Cesar's dismissal for handball and Ivan Cordoba's own goal in stoppage time turned the Udinese game into a difficult start for Inter, with Mancini blaming the San Siro heat.

A trip to last season's surprise package Empoli, who qualified for the UEFA Cup through their league position, is a tougher prospect on paper especially given the absence of Inter's commanding keeper and Vieira's thigh problem.

Defender Marco Materazzi is also out for at least two months with a thigh complaint but Inter can at least be buoyed by Empoli losing 3-1 at Tuscan rivals Fiorentina last weekend.

Empoli may be less of a force this term without midfielder Sergio Almiron, who moved to promoted Juventus.

Almiron has yet to express himself at Juve but Claudio Ranieri's team still managed a 5-1 home drubbing of Livorno last week to celebrate their return to the top flight after their match-fixing demotion.

David Trezeguet scored a hat-trick against Livorno but they will not expect such rewards in Sunday's trip to Cagliari, who managed a 2-0 win at promoted Napoli on Sunday.

Last season's runners-up AS Roma host Siena on Sunday and could hand a first start to right back Cicinho, who joined from Real Madrid last week.

Fellow Brazilian defender Juan may again be out injured but Roma should still easily overcome Siena, who saved themselves from relegation in the final five minutes of last season.

AC Milan host Fiorentina on Monday in the standout fixture from the second round of matches. The game has been put back because Milan face Sevilla in Friday's European Super Cup.

The European champions easily won 3-0 at promoted Genoa last weekend with Kaka getting two goals and Fiorentina were equally effective in their win over Empoli.

Luca Toni's move from Fiorentina to Bayern Munich had left a question mark over who would score the goals but Giampaolo Pazzini and Romania's Adrian Mutu have answered the doubters so far.

Saturday, September 1, 2007
TIME HOME AWAY VENUE
19:30 UK Empoli v Inter Milan Stadio Carlo Castellani

Sunday, September 2, 2007
TIME HOME AWAY VENUE
14:00 UK Atalanta v Parma Stadio Azzurri D`Italia
14:00 UK Cagliari v Juventus Stadio San Elia
14:00 UK Catania Calcio v Genoa Stadio Angelo Massimino
14:00 UK Livorno v Palermo Armando Picchi
14:00 UK Roma v Siena Stadio Olimpico
14:00 UK Torino v Reggina Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino
14:00 UK Udinese v Napoli Stadio Friuli
19:30 UK Sampdoria v Lazio Comunale Luigi Ferraris

Monday, September 3, 2007
TIME HOME AWAY VENUE
17:00 UK AC Milan v Fiorentina Stadio Giuseppe Meazza

Still early days.

Inter missing a few players but if they want to win the league they'll have to start wining games like this. Away win.

Would love to see the AC game but I'm away. I reckon the Viola will win this. A lot of travelling for an old Milan team.

The rest of the big teams should win.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

juve will get a draw or win.

godtabh

Inter won 2-0 last night.

Hopefully a start of a decent run

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

juve on fiyah? ooh f**kin yeah . treze top scorer. smashing chiellini goal and zee legend mr del piero gets his first of the season! good ol zebina hahahaha

Bubs101

Did you see Zebina slap the cameraman?? Juve were unlucky that the scoreline was so close. Dominated the game but the ref was a joke

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

ref sure was a joke, decided a pk then changed to corner.... , zebina off , miss next game i guess or maybe a few, we have salahimivich or whatever his name is who we got from bayern as back up , not the worst cover in the world . did you see the wonder save(s) by buffon? also camoneresi was the man of the match , see his 2 assists? 2nd goal by DP was class cross. DP missed an open goal too.

godtabh

- Italian Serie A -

Stadio Azzurri D`Italia
Atalanta 2 - 0 Parma
21' R Zampagna (pen) Goal 1 - 0
65' M Carrozzieri Goal 2 - 0
l
Stadio San Elia
Cagliari 2 - 3 Juventus
54' 0 - 1 Goal D Trezeguet
56' P Foggia (pen) Goal 1 - 1
76' 1 - 2 Goal A Del Piero
81' P Foggia (pen) Goal 2 - 2
82' Red Card J Zebina
83' C Del Grosso Red Card
90' 2 - 3 Goal G Chiellini

Stadio Angelo Massimino
Catania Calcio 0 - 0 Genoa

Armando Picchi
Livorno 2 - 4 Palermo
10' 0 - 1 Goal L Rinaudo
23' 0 - 2 Goal F Miccoli
37' 0 - 3 Goal F Miccoli
42' 0 - 4 Goal C Amauri
55' F Rossini Goal 1 - 4
75' A Grandoni Goal 2 - 4

Stadio Olimpico
Roma 3 - 0 Siena
17' A Aquilani Goal 1 - 0
82' Ludovic Goal 2 - 0
89' F Totti Goal 3 - 0

Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino
Torino 2 - 2 Reggina
31' 0 - 1 Goal N Amoruso
45' A Rosina Goal 1 - 1
59' N Ventola Goal 2 - 1
90' 2 - 2 Goal F Cozza

Stadio Friuli
Udinese 0 - 5 Napoli
16' 0 - 1 Goal M Zalayeta
41' 0 - 2 Goal M Domizzi
65' 0 - 3 Goal E Lavezzi
71' 0 - 4 Goal M Zalayeta
81' 0 - 5 Goal R Sosa

62 min
Comunale Luigi Ferraris
Sampdoria 0 - 0 Lazio

People say Italian football is boring. Look at some of the score lines and the Sampdoria Vs Lazio isnt over

Mr. Presentable

kearnsr wrote:

People say Italian football is boring. Look at some of the score lines and the Sampdoria Vs Lazio isnt over

Yeah, people that never saw any, mate.

kryogen

eh, was just wondering... wheres Ronaldo??? heard he was back in shape but i havent seen him in a squad yet! is he injured? or whats the story with him if anyody knows?

godtabh

kryogen wrote:

eh, was just wondering... wheres Ronaldo??? heard he was back in shape but i havent seen him in a squad yet! is he injured? or whats the story with him if anyody knows?

He needs a rest after doing all that training

eirebhoy

Seedorf then commented about Ronaldo and his return to the playing field.

"You must ask him if he's fine. I see him well everyday during trainings, he enjoys it.

"If he says that he's scared of playing it must be true, if he is not feeling well, then he is not feeling well."

What's that meant to mean?

kryogen

maybe his confidence is gone? he is afraid to step back onto the pitch for fear of failure?? Ronaldo is obviously telling the staff that he is not ready yet! im sure he will be back soon though, cant wait to see him in action!

tdv

Ancelotti said Ronaldo & Pato will play in the Friendly against Kiev on Thursday.

kryogen

good news, cant wait to see him in action, he is still my favrite striker of all time!! i would love to see him someway back to his best, although to be fair he never really lost his goalscoring ability, and if you gave him a yard he would leave you for dead!

Kevster

kearnsr wrote:

People say Italian football is boring. Look at some of the score lines and the Sampdoria Vs Lazio isnt over

It's funny you should say that because I remember a game about 8 years ago when Lazio were playing and they went 4-nil up after 7 minutes of the game!

Bubs101

That was probably because they were playing Sven's attacking brand of football