Week 38: And That’s a Wrap

By: Martha | May 28th, 2007

Budan With the top of the table and European qualification decided last weekend, all eyes this week were on the five teams still not safe from the drop. Ascoli and Messina were already in Serie B though to their credit both played their hearts out yesterday, with Ascoli beating Cagliari for their fifth win of the season, and Messina fighting like hell before finally going down 4-3 to Roma. Above those two, though, is where the real excitement was — at least for a while.

Parma, Siena and Reggina were all playing clubs above them whose fates had already been determined, and all three knew they’d be safe with a win. As I said yesterday, I may be a terrible cynic but it seems that, under the circumstances, you’d have to be awfully naive to expect anything less than full points for all three of them — which, of course, is what they got. The awesomely resurgent Parma started fast against Empoli and, after trying to let them back into the game, wrapped up the three points with a late goal; Reggina beat a disinterested and probably still drunk Milan side; Siena faced a brief scare against Lazio but, in the end, stayed up with what looked suspiciously like a gifted 2-1 win.

With those three wins wrapped up, all eyes turned to Bologna, where Catania finally finished their months of playing home games on neutral ground. Before a small but extremely lively (and wet) crowd, the team everyone around Serie A prayed would go down managed to withstand an early Chievo siege to win 2-0 and send the Flying Donkeys — who went into the game needing only a draw — down to Serie B. Dammit. While one should probably be happy for Pasquale Marino and his team, it’s hard not to feel an injustice has somehow been done when the team responsible for the crisis earlier this year stays up, while a class club and coach are dumped. Ah well. I guess this is where I say “But that’s football,” right?

I don’t know about you, but I am now going to slip into a deep depression until the season kicks off again in August.

Full results are after the jump.

Ascoli - Cagliari 2-1
Catania - Chievo 2-0
Fiorentina - Samp 5-1: TWO goals from Reginaldo (who only played 30 minutes), and a beautiful one from Riccardo Montolivo. Luca who?
Inter - Torino 3-0: Figo! Figo scored! in his last game in Italy. Sniff.
Livorno - Atalanta 4-2
Parma - Empoli 3-1
Reggina - Milan 2-0
Roma - Messina 4-3: Totti missed another penalty. Man is he going to be pissed if he misses out on that coveted European scoring title by a goal or two.
Siena - Lazio 2-1
Udinese - Palermo 1-2: Why yes, that was Eugenio Corini scoring from about 40 yards out, thanks for noticing.