Round 29: Roma close down Inter and Milan

Roma continued their climb to the top thanks to a Vucinic hatrick against a sorry Udinese side, away from home at least, and closed down the gap on both Milan clubs to be just four points from the Serie A summit. Inter, once again, dropped points away in the hotbed that is Palermo while Milan continue to stutter since their Champions League exit and could only draw with Napoli, who in fairness are a quality side. It all makes for an interesting finish to the season especially with Inter involved in three competitions at this point. What this means for them is in many cases two games a week compared to the one that Milan and Roma will play in comparison. Many would point to Roma to be the serious contenders with Milan still in stutter mode and a lot will ride on the Saturdays game with Inter at the Stadio Olimpico. Having said that all Serie A sides are in action in the coming two days, with Inter facing Livorno, Milan away at Parma and Roma away at Bologna. Intriguing indeed and I feel that all three will likely win midweek to continue this tight finale. Right now arguably the safe money is still on Inter but they may be so wrapped up in their Champions League bid that someone else this year could slip in a take the Scudetto.

Race for Fourth spot
Equally exciting in the current race for fourth spot, with arguably six teams still in the chase for it. Palermo and Napoli both took a point as outlined above, but Fiorentina and Sampdoria were the real winners this weekend. La Viola brushed aside another challenger in Genoa 3-0 thanks to a wonderful backheel from Santana in the early stages while Sampdoria beat a badly beaten up Juventus 1-0 thanks to a piece of genius from Antonio Cassano, and a piece of madness from Antonio Chimenti. Nonetheless they remain on target for fourth place, with Juve on the verge of total disaster especially if they loose in Naples on Thursday night.

Elsewhere
Lazio finally registered a win beating Cagliari 2-0 in an impressive performance thanks to Tomasso Rocchi and Sergio Floccari. Still, the relegation fears have not eased with Siena and Livorno both registering wins against Bologna and Atalanta respectively. Chievo and Catania also picked up a useful point between them in a 1-1 draw as did Parma and Bari who have both almost consolidated their place in the division after promotion last year.