Got this from The Guardian
World's best golfer is black, world's top rapper is white, so-called Italian teams are scoring floods of goals and Juventus are complaining about a conspiracy. It's a mixed-up world, and no mistaking. Here, just for starters, we have the perennial champions of the uneven playing field, Juve, complaining about "disturbing facts that push us to suspect certain situations have been put in place to damage the club at a crucial stage of the season"; i.e. someone's out to nobble us. This admirably succinct quotation comes from a Juve press release this week explaining why they won't be talking to anybody anymore.
Lilian Thuram lets Clarence Seedorf know what Juventus think of Milan these days.
Anti-Turin bias? After years of the Old Lady pulling "Italian football's feudal strings", in the words of the Gazzetta Dello Sport, this might smack of karmic symmetry to you and me, but Juve aren't impressed at all. Hence they have withdrawn their players from all contact with the media and directed their ire on their erstwhile partners Milan.
Since the early 90s, Juve and Milan have enjoyed a kind of unholy alliance, creating marketing brands and business synergies and the like, and religiously dividing up the on-field Serie A booty. The pair have won 29 trophies over the last 13 seasons (including 11 out of 13 scudetti), but never have they competed for the Italian title together - until this time. However, now that they are, in La Repubblica's elegant phrase, "like two dogs scrapping over the same bone", the old cosy relationship has gone out of the window as Juventus - now orphans of the almighty Agnelli brothers - discover that it's their rivals who are really calling the shots.
The recent Zlatan Ibrahimovic case is emblematic. The Juve forward received a three-game ban thanks to footage aired on Italian television, a suspension which means he'll miss the game with Milan this weekend. Juve, of course, appealed, confident in the knowledge that everyone in Italy from dopers to match-fixers always, always gets a reduction on their sentence. The appeal was twice rejected.
Given that Milan-meisters Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani between them run a) the football league, who decide suspensions, b) Italian television, and c) pretty much the whole country, Juve have smelt a large rodent. Their mood was worsened further last week when Italian state television suddenly unearthed a six-year-old home movie, apparently stolen from Juve's Fabio Cannavaro, in which the defender filmed himself getting a pre-game creatine "pick-me-up" drip before the 1999 Uefa Cup final. "C'mon doc, let's go..." jokes Cannavaro in the tape, as the team doctor inserts the needle. "Ooooh...that's amaaazing."
While not an obvious choice for home movie-making, creatine is not a banned substance and its use in football is widespread. Nevertheless, the last week has seen whole programmes dedicated to the subject of Cannavaro and his six-year-old drip - and all just as Juve build up to their crucial trip to Milan. You can see why Juve find the timing curious.
There is, though, little they can do about it but keep winning, and on Sunday Juve did just that against Bologna. Eighteen minutes in, man of the moment Cannavaro gave his side a shot in the arm (whehey!) by heading in Mauro Camoranesi's cross, and six minutes later Marcelo Zalayeta added another, before Frederico Giunti made it 2-1 with a majestic free-kick. While Ibrahimovic gazed on from the stands in a T-shirt bearing the legend "F**k Off", the game's other excitement came when Fabio Capello indulged in his own private vice, subbing Alessandro del Piero for the 28th time this season (or removing his drip, in Cannavaro speak). Burying himself deep in his plush red seat on the bench, TV cameras then caught Del Piero himself mouthing "f**k off" at Capello.
It's all the rage in Turin, this swearing business. Possibly it's popular in Florence too, after Milan came, saw and somehow conquered on Saturday night. The fabled rossoneri failed to muster a single shot on goal in the first half as Fiorentina picked up an early lead; yet, within 10 minutes of the restart, they were 2-1 up after Andriy Shevchenko buried their only two shots of the game. Fiorentina were creating chance after chance up the other end but failed to put even the easiest sitter away, and in the end Milan walked away with all three points. Thus they and Juve stay tied on top, while Fiorentina slide deeper into relegation trouble.
"This is a curse," moaned their manager Dino Zoff after the game, "but if we play like this in the last four games, salvation won't escape us." With a run-in that includes a trip to Lazio and clashes with three direct relegation rivals, I wouldn't be too sure - especially when you look at what those rivals have been up to lately.
Atalanta, the one side below Fiorentina, slipped up at Udinese but are otherwise flying. Above the viola, Brescia drew at Roma (only Roma's second point in nine games, but it may be enough to save them), Chievo drew at Palermo, and Parma pulled off the result of the round against Livorno, leaping up the table in the process.
Now, a record 43 goals were scored last weekend (4.3 a game, and still Del Piero didn't get one) and no less than 10 of them came in Parma's 6-4 victory, a result that even eclipsed goal-happy Lecce's 5-3 win over Lazio that same afternoon.
Lecce's match featured hat-ricks from Tommaso Rocchi and Mirko Vucinic, but Parma's game saw Alberto Gilardino and Christiano Lucarelli grab four goals each - a first in an Italian league match - all while Real Madrid's director general Arrigo Sacchi (a former Parma man) watched hungrily in the stands. Gilardino - who now tops the scoring charts alongside Vincenzo Montella - has admitted Real's interest in his services but maintains he'd like to stay in Italy, and says he's "very interested" in the idea of joining Shevchenko at Milan.
Which, frankly, is all Juve and the rest of the league need. Anyway, this Sunday sees the long-awaited clash at the San Siro as Juve attempt to stick it to their former friends where it hurts, and likewise Milan. Old chums scrapping is always an edifying spectacle, so perhaps you'll join us on British Eurosport for the whole game live at 1.45. Otherwise (and I bet it's a draw) we'll see you here next week. Have fun 'til then.
Lilian Thuram lets Clarence Seedorf know what Juventus think of Milan these days.
Anti-Turin bias? After years of the Old Lady pulling "Italian football's feudal strings", in the words of the Gazzetta Dello Sport, this might smack of karmic symmetry to you and me, but Juve aren't impressed at all. Hence they have withdrawn their players from all contact with the media and directed their ire on their erstwhile partners Milan.
Since the early 90s, Juve and Milan have enjoyed a kind of unholy alliance, creating marketing brands and business synergies and the like, and religiously dividing up the on-field Serie A booty. The pair have won 29 trophies over the last 13 seasons (including 11 out of 13 scudetti), but never have they competed for the Italian title together - until this time. However, now that they are, in La Repubblica's elegant phrase, "like two dogs scrapping over the same bone", the old cosy relationship has gone out of the window as Juventus - now orphans of the almighty Agnelli brothers - discover that it's their rivals who are really calling the shots.
The recent Zlatan Ibrahimovic case is emblematic. The Juve forward received a three-game ban thanks to footage aired on Italian television, a suspension which means he'll miss the game with Milan this weekend. Juve, of course, appealed, confident in the knowledge that everyone in Italy from dopers to match-fixers always, always gets a reduction on their sentence. The appeal was twice rejected.
Given that Milan-meisters Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani between them run a) the football league, who decide suspensions, b) Italian television, and c) pretty much the whole country, Juve have smelt a large rodent. Their mood was worsened further last week when Italian state television suddenly unearthed a six-year-old home movie, apparently stolen from Juve's Fabio Cannavaro, in which the defender filmed himself getting a pre-game creatine "pick-me-up" drip before the 1999 Uefa Cup final. "C'mon doc, let's go..." jokes Cannavaro in the tape, as the team doctor inserts the needle. "Ooooh...that's amaaazing."
While not an obvious choice for home movie-making, creatine is not a banned substance and its use in football is widespread. Nevertheless, the last week has seen whole programmes dedicated to the subject of Cannavaro and his six-year-old drip - and all just as Juve build up to their crucial trip to Milan. You can see why Juve find the timing curious.
There is, though, little they can do about it but keep winning, and on Sunday Juve did just that against Bologna. Eighteen minutes in, man of the moment Cannavaro gave his side a shot in the arm (whehey!) by heading in Mauro Camoranesi's cross, and six minutes later Marcelo Zalayeta added another, before Frederico Giunti made it 2-1 with a majestic free-kick. While Ibrahimovic gazed on from the stands in a T-shirt bearing the legend "F**k Off", the game's other excitement came when Fabio Capello indulged in his own private vice, subbing Alessandro del Piero for the 28th time this season (or removing his drip, in Cannavaro speak). Burying himself deep in his plush red seat on the bench, TV cameras then caught Del Piero himself mouthing "f**k off" at Capello.
It's all the rage in Turin, this swearing business. Possibly it's popular in Florence too, after Milan came, saw and somehow conquered on Saturday night. The fabled rossoneri failed to muster a single shot on goal in the first half as Fiorentina picked up an early lead; yet, within 10 minutes of the restart, they were 2-1 up after Andriy Shevchenko buried their only two shots of the game. Fiorentina were creating chance after chance up the other end but failed to put even the easiest sitter away, and in the end Milan walked away with all three points. Thus they and Juve stay tied on top, while Fiorentina slide deeper into relegation trouble.
"This is a curse," moaned their manager Dino Zoff after the game, "but if we play like this in the last four games, salvation won't escape us." With a run-in that includes a trip to Lazio and clashes with three direct relegation rivals, I wouldn't be too sure - especially when you look at what those rivals have been up to lately.
Atalanta, the one side below Fiorentina, slipped up at Udinese but are otherwise flying. Above the viola, Brescia drew at Roma (only Roma's second point in nine games, but it may be enough to save them), Chievo drew at Palermo, and Parma pulled off the result of the round against Livorno, leaping up the table in the process.
Now, a record 43 goals were scored last weekend (4.3 a game, and still Del Piero didn't get one) and no less than 10 of them came in Parma's 6-4 victory, a result that even eclipsed goal-happy Lecce's 5-3 win over Lazio that same afternoon.
Lecce's match featured hat-ricks from Tommaso Rocchi and Mirko Vucinic, but Parma's game saw Alberto Gilardino and Christiano Lucarelli grab four goals each - a first in an Italian league match - all while Real Madrid's director general Arrigo Sacchi (a former Parma man) watched hungrily in the stands. Gilardino - who now tops the scoring charts alongside Vincenzo Montella - has admitted Real's interest in his services but maintains he'd like to stay in Italy, and says he's "very interested" in the idea of joining Shevchenko at Milan.
Which, frankly, is all Juve and the rest of the league need. Anyway, this Sunday sees the long-awaited clash at the San Siro as Juve attempt to stick it to their former friends where it hurts, and likewise Milan. Old chums scrapping is always an edifying spectacle, so perhaps you'll join us on British Eurosport for the whole game live at 1.45. Otherwise (and I bet it's a draw) we'll see you here next week. Have fun 'til then.
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