Round 12: Milan and Lazio fly as the top six clash

A mega and quite unique weekend of calcio pitted the top six against each other, and if that was not enough there was the Sicilian derby to contend with as well. First up were Juve and Roma, and a high tempo game was given a fantastic goal after Aquilani delivered a superb ball for Vicenzo Iaquinta to volley home. Francesco Totti however leveled the tie however before half time from the spot, as he did last year before they went onto win, after Simone Pepe was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. This time however there was no win for Roma, and only a fine Julio Sergio save denied Fabio Quagliarella from a wonder goal late on.

In the next top six clash Lazio pushed past a talented Napoli side to secure their first win since week nine after two consecutive defeats against Roma and Cesena. Mauro Zarate put in an excellent performance open the scoring after a wonderful assist from Italy International Stefano Mauri. Zarate later turned provider to allow Sergio Floccari to hit his fourth goal of the campaign so far with a tidy finish past Morgan De Sanctis. Napoli however were desperately unlucky not to level the tie in the early going after Lavezzi, in wonderful form, beat two Lazio players and rattled the bar from 25 yards with Muslera motionless on the goal line. It was not Napoli's day however, but they remain third in the table. 

Milan remain first however thanks to a win over bitter rivals Inter, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on target from the spot after just five minutes. It was a game won with ten men by Milan, and could have been of a higher margin as both Seedorf and Ibrahimovic came close on more than one occassion. Inter fans thought they had leveled the tie when a wonderful Sneijder freekick skimmed the netting in the first half, but they did not make the most of their one man advantage and went down to their second defeat of the season so far.

Elsewhere, Palermo blew Catania away in the derby with a Javier Pastore ha rick, while Bologna picked up another solid home win against Brescia thanks to, you've guest it, Marco Di Vaio. Parma continued their resurgence with a 1-0 away win at a troubled Bari, while Fiorentina did the same with a 1-0 win against Cesena thanks to a superb Gilardino volley. Genoa, under new management in former Lazio flop Davide Ballardini, won their second game on the bounce to take them up to 17 points against Cagliari. Joining them on that mark is a totally changed Udinese side who thrashed Lecce 4-0 with Antonio Di Natale on target with a hatrick. Considering they were rock bottom in the seasons early stages, their position now just three points away from fourth places is quite an achievement. One side really struggling right now however is Sampdoria as they failed to score for the third game running, with Antonio Cassano still frozen out of the squad. Another goalless outing saw them draw 0-0 with Chievo at the Marassi. They look a far cry from the team that finished fourth last season.