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Italy: Serie A Review- Round 3 [Tue Sep 20th, 2005]
Juventus were hoping to continue their early-season form against Ascoli at the Stadio Delle Alpi.
Juve misfit Alessandro Del Piero was making his first start of the season. Ascoli, who have already taken points away from Milan, were hoping to make it two giants in the first three weeks of the season.
Things did not go off to a smooth start for the Bianconeri as Jonathan Zebina, just coming back from injury, lasted a whole two minutes before pulling up with a knee injury. Manuele Blasi came on to play at right back for the second time this week.
Ascoli had a great chance to take the lead after only five minutes, but Sasa Bjelanovic turned his shot from a couple of metres over the bar.
In the twelfth minute, Pavel Nedved’s cross was handled in the box by Cristiano. The referee pointed to the spot and Del Piero converted with a low drive to give the home side the advantage.
In the 32nd minute, Ascoli drew level when a Cariello angled shot deflected off Fabio Cannavaro into the net. This marked the first goal Juventus have surrendered this season.
Juve retook the lead seven minutes later when a Del Piero free kick rose over the wall just passed the outstretched arm of Ascoli keeper Coppola.
The Juve captain continued to impress over the course of the match. Ascoli would not go down without a fight however, as they tested Abbiati on a couple of occasions afterwards, but Juve held their ground to complete the 2-1 victory.
AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini did not enjoy his 800th appearance for Milan as they continued their below-par start to the season, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Sampdoria in Genoa.
There was controversy in the 18th minute when Alberto Gilardino was credited with a goal after what seemed to be a clear offside. Nevertheless Gilardino was put through on goal by a delightful back heel by Andriy Shevchenko and could not miss from such a position, scoring his first competitive goal for the Rossoneri.
A few minutes later, Max Tonetto had a chance to bring Sampdoria to level terms but his half-volley was straight at Dida.
In the 30th minute Milan had a glorious chance to double their lead when a fantastic run by Shevchenko through two defenders was all for nought, when Gilardino booted his shot way over the bar in front of an open goal after receiving from the Ukrainian.
Four minutes later Shevchenko missed a chance of his own, shooting wide after receiving a neat low cross from Gennaro Gattuso. Samp drew even in the 37th minute through Emiliano Bonazzoli after a Zauli effort came off the crossbar.
Sampdoria took the lead 12 minutes after the break when Tonetto fired home from close range.
Milan’s defense looked very disorganised on botch occasions.
Ten minutes from time, Sampdoria were given the chance to put the match beyond doubt, but Francesco Flachi’s shot was just wide of the mark after he was allowed the space to get into a good shooting position.
In the closing minutes Christian Vieri had a free kick saved nicely by Antonioli and a header go over the bar while Vitali Kutuzov failed to control the ball uncontested in front of the net.
Cross-city rivals, Inter Milan, had a much easier time against their opponents, Lecce, at the San Siro. Adriano and Martins missed a couple of early chances for Inter as did Mirko Vucinic for Lecce.
Inter took the lead in the 24th minute when Martins received a wonderful through ball from Esteban Cambiasso and finished the play with a neat flick over Lecce keeper Sicignano.
Inter scored their second five minutes later as Stankovic was left alone by the Lecce defence at the far post and an ever so slight touch, rolled into the back of the net.
Inter somehow failed to score their third when Cambiasso hit the upright after Stankovic’s shot was blocked by Sicignano. Martins had his second of the match, ruled back for a push in the box.
It was a very open match as expected with both teams pressuring forcing good saves from both keepers. Soon after coming on as a substitute, Julio Cruz put the icing on the cake alone in front of goal after receiving from Ze Maria. The match finished 3-0.
Luca Toni’s Fiorentina played host to Vincenzio Iaquinta’s Udinese. Both strikers are on great form and were hoping to continue the good work in a battle that may decide European competition come the end of the season.
It was an open game right from the opening minutes but it took 28 minutes for the match to see its first goal. A Udinese corner kick corner kick was not cleared effectively and the in-form Sulley Ali Muntari sent a powerful shot back in that keeper Sebastian Frey could do nothing about.
Toni and Fiore continued their good play together as they drew the Viola level with the big man setting up Fiore who slotted a low shot into the corner of the net.
In the 42nd minute Toni found himself on the score sheet yet again after turning the Udinese defender brilliantly and instantly sending a left footed screamer into the top right corner of the net.
On 76 minutes, Vicenzo Iaquinta’s equalising goal was disallowed for a supposed foul in the box. Moments after that, Fiorentina scored their third from a Marco Donadel free kick.
The match ended with tempers flaring and goals from Toni and Iaquinta via penalties to finish the match at 4-2 in favour of Fiorentina.
Roma were held to a 0-0 draw away to Livorno. Action began in the 4th minute when Samuel Kuffour defensive clearance went astray to Livorno’s Christiano Lucarelli in front of goal. Fortunately for Kuffour, Lucarelli was not in position to capitalise.
Francesco Totti, who was continuing his great early season form, sent in a cross just a little too close to the keeper. As half-time approached, Lucarelli showed good reactions to snap a shot in a scramble on target, but right at Roma keeper Gianluca Curci.
At the other end, Rodrigo Taddei sent a great low cross into the Livorno box to Mancini but his outstretched leg was an inch too short and could not make contact.
Totti came close to giving the visitors the lead seven minutes after the interval but his free kick was cleared off the line by Gelante. Six minutes later, De Rossi found the back of the net, but there was an offside in the build up and was therefore ruled back.
The match ended in controversy, as the ref booked a Livorno player for unfair play in the wall and then booked Totti for wanting to take the free kick early.
Nothing came of it, as Totti’s free kick went straight into the wall.
Roma so nearly stole the three points at the end. Off a corner kick, Totti’s volley was headed on by Nonda, but keeper Marco Amelia pulled off a miraculous save to knock the header over the bar.
Palermo continued their hot streak with a 2-1 victory over Siena. Within seconds of play, Siena goalkeeper Antonio Mirante was forced into a good save to keep Andrea Caracciolo’s effort out from ten yards.
Palermo’s Cristian Terlizzi scored in the early stages, but was called back for a foul.
Palermo continued to pressure as Caracciolo’s header was saved by Mirante, and nothing could be done about the resulting corner kick in which Terlizzi nodded in.
Only a minute later, Siena equalised. A nice aerial passing play betweein Tomas Locatelli and Erjon Bogdani ended with a Locatelli strike.
Andrea Caracciolo then soon missed an open net after Stephen Makinwa was able to cross the ball into his path. Soon after the break Palermo’s Massimo Bonanni slid onto a low cross but was unfortunate in hitting the upright.
The Rosaneri took back their lead after 56 minutes, when Makinwa beat Palermo keeper Nicola Santoni to the far corner after receiving from Caracciolo. Another match ended in controversy when Eugenio Corini seemed to handle the ball in the area, but no penalty was given.
Treviso made team history as a consolation to losing 3-1 to Lazio at the Stadio Olympico.
Lazio’s Goran Pandev had the match’s first scoring opportunity, shooting over the net from a promising position. On the other side, the Lazio defence were forced into making a goal line clearance.
Lazio drew first blood in the 21st minute when Tommaso Rocchi slotted it past Handanovic after a fine pass by Paolo Di Canio. Five minutes later, Lazio doubled their lead when Pandev poked his shot through the legs of Handanovic from another Di Canio assist.
Just prior to half-time, Treviso scored their first ever goal in Serie A via an Andre Pinga free kick into the top corner.
Both teams had flurries of chances.
Controversy struck yet again when Rocchi tripped over Handanovic earning a penalty. The Treviso goalkeeper was sent off, but it seems Rocchi took the dive. Defender Galeoto was forced to play between the pipes as Treivso was out of substitutions. Massimo Oddo had no problem converting from the spot.
Cagliari squared off against Messina in the Derby delle Isole. Cagliari missed two early chances with Daniele Conti curling a free kick just wide and Mauro Esposito heading over in front of goal.
Messina took the lead on the half hour when Massimo Donati got onto the end of a D’Agostino corner kick and produced a spectacular volley which found the back of the net.
Cagliari equalised just before half-time courtesy of David Suazo who, after beating the Messina defence, finished off, putting his shot past keeper Marco Storari.
The second half was rather bland, save another case of controversy in the 68th minute. Suazo’s cross fell to Esposito, whose shot was saved by defender Marco Zanchi at the goal line, but on further review the ball could be seen to have crossed the line completely. At the end of it all it finished Cagliari 1, Messina 1.
Parma invited Empoli to the Stadio Tardini. Empoli missed a sitter after 13 minutes when Christian Rigano managed to get round the goalkeeper Luca Bucci, but slow reactions allowed Paolo Cannavaro to dive in to end the threat.
Parma scored against the run of play on the 17-minute mark. Bernardo Corradi took advantage of a defensive error and fire in from close range into the far corner of the net; his first goal back in Serie A. He nearly had another but his header was saved by the foot of Empoli keeper Gianluca Berti.
The keeper came up big again when Marco Bresciano struck from the edge of the box. Many more Parma attacks followed, but Berti saved his team embarrassment, settling for the 1-0 defeat.
Chievo visited Reggina and the Stadio Granillo. The home side struck first in the 12th minute through Francesco Cozza from six yards out. Seven minutes later, Chievo equalised courtesy of Daniele Franceschini after a inspired run from Amauri.
On the hour mark, Franceschini found himself scoring his second easy tap in of the match. In the 77th minute, Chievo got the insurance they needed with a Davide Mandelli header from six yards out. The match ended 3-1 in favour of the visiting side.
Aaron Pires Mammoliti
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