Serie A roundup:Milan push on, Ranieri resigns after Genoa disaster
In another week of pulsating action and dramatic results in the Serie A, AC Milan kept their title aspirations on track despite the midweek loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League by securing a 2-1 win away at Chievo. Robinho continued his good goal scoring form in the league by giving his side the lead in the first half only to see it neutralized by a 61st minute equalizer from Gelson Fernandes. It was left for substitute Alexandre Pato to save the day for Milan as the Brazilian notched up a late goal to maintain his side’s momentum in the title race. With this win, Milan maintain their 3 point advantage over Napoli and 5 point advantage over city rivals Inter.
Pato celebrates after scoring late winner. (Image courtesy Getty images)
Inter Milan continued their resurgence with a 1-0 win over Cagliari at the San Siro on Saturday. Defender Andrea Ranocchia put the title chasers ahead early in the first half with a controversial goal that should have been ruled offside to provide a bright start to the game despite early dominance from Cagliari. As the match wore on, Cagliari came out spirited to clinch the match from their tired opponents and created plenty of chances but lacked the quality to finish in the final third. Davide Biondini, Andre Lazzari and Daniele Conti failed to bury their chances into the net and were left to pay in the end. Despite being an average performance, it was three points well earned for Inter who have an all important UEFA Champions League clash against Bayern Munich midweek and will look to carry the confidence from Saturday’s win into the encounter against the German champions.
Napoli won 1-0 against Catania through Juan Camilo Zuniga’s goal to make it 3 wins out their last 3 matches and continue breathing down the neck of leaders AC Milan. Napoli were temporarily displaced off their second spot after Saturday’s win by Inter but reclaimed their spot by the narrow win.
More heartbreak was in store for AS Roma at Genoa following their Champions League loss as they surrendered a three goal lead to lose the match 4-3, a result which forced Claudio Ranieri to step down from his job. Ranieri’s team produced a brilliant performance in the first 50 minutes after their disappointing midweek loss to Shakhtar Donetsk. Philippe Mexes put Roma ahead as early as the sixth minute to provide a fantastic start. Not troubled by the loss of Simone Perrotta who had to be stretchered off in the tenth minute following a nasty injury, Roma went on the rampage as Nicolas Burdisso made it 2-0 after sixteen minutes and Francesco Totti, who was the provider for the first two goals, was set up by Mirko Vucinic in the 50th minute to make it 3-0. After the brilliant start, madness ensued for Roma as goal keeper Julio Sergio’s attempts to clear the ball by coming off his line gifted Rodrigo Palacio a goal. Poor marking in the crumbling Roma defence left Alberto Paloschi slot home his team’s second goal as Roma started to get nervous. Palacio and Paloschi then completed their braces as Genoa put together a fantastic comeback to pile more misery on the men from the Eternal City, whose fourth consecutive loss meant Claudio Ranieri could no longer continue as manager.
The Genoa disaster was the last straw for Claudio Ranieri
Lazio secured a narrow win against bottom most club Bari, Lecce put a stop to Juventus’ march towards the Champions League spot with a 2-0 win in a match that saw both teams end up with ten men. Gianluigi Buffon was sent off in the 12th minute for deliberately handling the ball outside the box. With their captain sent off, the Bianconeri succumbed to Lecce’s pressure as Djamel Misbah and Andrea Bertolacci rounded off a much needed win for the home team.
Buffon sent off in the 12th minute (Image courtesy Getty images)
Other results of the weeked: Fiorentina 0-0 Sampdoria, Parma 2-2 Cesena, Udinese 0-0 Bresica, Bologna 1-0 Palermo