Serie A Round 33 Recap

Juventus took a step closer to the title by defeating Udinese 2-0 this past weekend. Juve got goals from ex U21 Italian international Sebastian Giovinco in the 16^th minute, and Fernando Llorente in the 26^th minute.

Giovinco is showing that when he is on his game he can be just as effective as Carlos Teves. Juve took control of the match early on and never let go. It was another workman like performance by the Bianconeri, who are very close to clinching their 4^th consecutive Scudetto.

Udinese is having a season to forget as they are hovering just above the relegation zone, and it doesn’t look like they will be able to climb out of their present position.

Roma continues their amazing march to the top. The Romans registered their 7^th win in a row with a 3-1 against Atalanta Di Bergamo. Rodrigo Taddei opened the scoring in the 13^th minute, Adem Ljajic followed with a goal of his own in the 44^th minute, and Gervinho’s 63^rd minute goal rounded off the scoring for Giallorossi.

The reply from the Bergamasci came from Giulio Migliaccio in the 77^th minute. Atalanta has lost two in a row after 7 consecutive wins. They must regroup if they want a shot at the Europa League.

All and all it was an easy victory for the Romans. They controlled the ball for most of the game, which nullified any comeback dreams Atalanta might have had. The Romans are on the march…look out

SSC Napoli defeated Lazio 4-2 in another jam-packed San Paolo stadium in Naples. Gonzalo Iguain got a hatrick for the Partenopei with his goals coming in the 50^th, 67^th and 90^th minute.  

Dries Mertens got the other goal for Napoli. Lazio’s goals came from Senad Lulic in the 21^st minute and Ogenyi Onazi in the 82^nd minute. Napoli played a very good game. Once again their fluidity is something to watch and they way they can control the pace of the game is always a pleasure to watch.

However, Lazio did not give up and in spite of being down one man from a red card shown to Lorik Cana in the 48^th minute, they managed to score a goal a man short. It was a nice win for Napoli which confirms their good form of late.

With this win, I believe Napoli cemented 3^rd place and must be careful not to become complacent for the remainder of the season.

If they want to reach the team record for most points in one season then they need to continue their great season in winning fashion.

AC Milan defeated Catania 1-0 at the San Siro on the weekend. The lone goal was scored by Riccardo Montolivio in the 23^rd minute on a beautiful play by Mario Balotelli. It was Milan’s 3^rd straight win and this performance shows that Milan are not giving up their fight for a Europa League spot.

It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off after a disastrous start of the season. Catania have lost their 5^th in a row and they are staring Serie B in the face.

Fiorentina routed Hellas Verona 5-2 in Verona. The goals for the Viola came from Alberto Aquilani who scored two on the day with the first coming in the 44^th , and the second in the 86^th minute.

Colombian International Juan Cuadrado added another in the 31st minute, Borja Valero in the 63^rd minute, and Alessandro Matri in the 83^rd minute. The reply from the Veronesi came from Jacopo Sala in the 14^th minute, and Luca Toni scored Verona’s second goal in the 73^rd minute on a penalty.

It was a wild game to say the least, and with a little luck Fiorentina would have had more goals. But it was not meant to be. Verona seemed disinterested in the match. At the end an important must win for the Viola if they want to keep their hold on their Europa League spot

In other results:

Inter Milan finally got a win, shutting down Sampadoria in Genoa 4-0 – Bologna held Parma to a 1-1 draw – Torino edged out Genoa 2-1 – Livorno lost at home 4-2 to Chievo Verona and finally Cagliari and Sassuolo played to a 1-1

In the race for the bottom Sassuolo, Bologna and Chievo gained some ground leaving Catania and Livorno in deep trouble.

Here you have it another exciting week in Serie A…with a few weeks left the finish line is in the horizon. Should be an exciting finish.