Week 17: The Snow comes and Inter stretch ahead again

Bad weather in Italy affected Calcio this weekend causing Bologna v Atalanta, Fiorentina v Milan, Bari v Genoa and Udinese v Cagliari to be postponed. However, all six other games did go ahead even if Inter v Lazio was played in minus 8 degree weather.

Roma 2-0 Parma
Roma continued their excellent form by comfortably brushing aside an inform Parma outfit at the Stadio Olimpico. The first half was rather uneventful, though Danielle Galloppa did test Julio Sergio in one instance and Mirko Vucinic had a effort go just wide. However, Roma took the lead after the break through Nicolas Burdisso from a corner, and the Argentine International defender swept home. Roma continued to have the better of the game the result was put beyond doubt when Paci was sent off for Parma reducing them to ten men. Moments later it was 2-0 Roma as Vucinic fed Brighi who slid his right foot effort into the top corner from close range.

Juventus 1-2 Catania
Juventus miserable run continues with a defeat to Catania, a team that before this match were rock bottom of Serie A. Catania took the lead from the spot after Tiago pulled a Catania players shot. Martinez made no mistake from the spot. Juve leveled midway through the second half after Diego found Salihamidzic and he volleyed in from 10 yards. However, Juve were constantly on the attack and got caught on the break late on as Mariano Izco put the ball beyond Manninger to send Juve crashing to defeat once again. Disaster for the Turin based side.


Inter 1-0 Lazio
Lazio's miserable form continued, unsurprisingly, against Serie A leaders Inter who were comfortable in this 1-0 defeat of the Aquilotti. Inter wasted little time in taking the lead and were ahead after 15 minutes. Dejan Stankovic crossed into the area for Eto'o to head down on goal which Muslera saved but he could do little about the rebound from which Eto'o made no mistake. The goal did however come on the counter attack from which Inter looked leathal. Lazio tried to get back into the game. Alex Kolarov weaved his way through the defence but his effort was well saved by Julio Cesar. Later on Lazio should have had a penalty when Maicon handled the ball in the area but the referee waved play on. After the break both teams seemed to have been affected by the well below freezing conditions. However, Estaban Cambiasso struck a sweat free kick that went inches wide with that sweat left foot of his. In stoppage time Kolarov again weaved his way through the Inter back line but his cross was intercepted just before Julio Cruz could tap in.

Elsewhere
Napoli continued there unbeaten run under Walter Mazzari by beating inform Chievo by 2-0. Marek Hamsik opened the scoring from the spot and Fabio Quagliarella made the points save late on. Palermo, under new manager Delio Rossi, won again against Siena thanks to an Edison Cavani goal on the 45 minute mark. Finally, Sampdoria's bad run continues as they wer hammered 3-1 by Serse Cosmi's Livorno and Antonio Cassano's loan strike could do little to help.

Serie A by Numbers
Top Scorers: Di Natale 11, Milito 10, Totti 9, Pazzini 8, Hamsik 8, Matri 8, Eto'o 8
Highest Attendances this round: Inter 1-0 Lazio: 52,859 Roma 2-0 Parma: 36,899 Napoli 2-0 Chievo: 31,973
Round total attendance from the six games played: 171650 , round average of 28,608 per game
Season average attendance: 24,408

Attendance stats from www.stadiapostcards.com