Spotlight: Kaka Masterclass
The winners…
Kaka (Milan)
It hasn’t been his best season, but now that Kaka is back to full fitness he showed just why he is the World and European Player of the Year. The Brazilian railroaded Inter, creating one goal and scoring another, all done with absolute class. He is football’s Mohamed Ali – he floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee.
Nicola Amoruso (Reggina)
It looks like the Amaranto are staging another great escape from relegation and they timed their win at Catania perfectly. Not only is it their first away victory in over a year, the brace also ended Amoruso’s goal drought that had lasted since February 23.
Mario Beretta (Siena)
At the final whistle when Siena's Serie A safety was mathematically assured, the players all surrounded their Coach and held him aloft. When Beretta returned to the bench in November, the side was bottom with just nine points from 12 games under Andrea Mandorlini and they were in the relegation zone as recently as February.
The losers…
Patrick Vieira (Inter)
The entire Inter squad could have gone into this segment, but Vieira stands out for his nap when dispossessed by Massimo Ambrosini for the second goal. At a time when the Scudetto was there to be taken and motivation couldn’t have been higher, Vieira and co froze under the spotlight. It has happened too many times now to be a coincidence.
Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina)
At the end of the worst week of the Viola’s campaign, they needed their star player to lead the way. Instead the Romanian wasted chances in Cagliari and foolishly got himself sent off for dissent, ruling him out of next week’s game with old club Parma.
Antonio Filippini (Livorno)
It was disheartening to see Filippini leading the charge of angry Livorno players who ran after Simone Padoin, ‘guilty’ of scoring a last-minute goal giving Atalanta a 3-2 victory. The Orobici have nothing to play for this season and therefore were expected to lie down and give the bottom club at least a point. With that attitude, Livorno deserve to go down.
The goals…
Pippo Inzaghi (Milan)
Kaka waltzed away from Marco Materazzi down the right flank and cut back for Inzaghi’s glancing header at the near post, giving Julio Cesar no chance from point-blank range.
Houssine Kharja (Siena)
It needed something special to defeat Gianluigi Buffon. The French-Moroccan Trequartista pounced on Giorgio Chiellini’s defensive hesitation on the edge of the box to lob the Juventus goalkeeper.
David Pizarro (Roma)
The Chilean midfielder unleashed a right-foot daisy-cutter from 20 metres that was as powerful as it was precise clean into the bottom corner.
The numbers…
Derby day
This was the 267th Derby della Madonnina, the 169th in Serie A alone. In total Milan go further ahead in all meetings with 105 wins to 90 and 72 draws, but reduced to the League ties only then Inter are in front after 61 victories, 52 draws and 57 defeats. The Rossoneri avoid losing a fourth derby on the trot, which hasn’t happened since the 1974, although that included the Coppa Italia. In Serie A alone the last four-win stretch was between 1943 and ’46, when the club was called Ambrosiana Inter.
Record-breaking Roma
Roma may only be in second place, but they have set a new club record with 78 points and 23 victories this season. That's more than they managed in the title that Fabio Capello won in 2000-01 with 75 points and 22 wins.
All or nothing
For the first time this season, there was not a single draw in this round. The last time this happened in Serie A was the final week of 2006-07, although there was just one stalemate in Weeks 15, 21, 27 and 34. Only three of the five penalties were actually converted on Sunday, as Samir Handanovic saved Sebastian Giovinco’s attempt and Nando Muslera parried an Amauri spot-kick. Curiously, Amauri also missed a penalty in the first meeting with Lazio earlier this season.
Words: Susy Campanale
The bolded part must`ve looked fabolous, does anybody have a video of this? :rofl2: