Week 13: Pile-Up at the Top

After this week, things are about as tight as they can be at the top of the table. Inter limped to a win over Atalanta to stay three points clear of the pack behind them, but there are now three team tied on 25 points, just waiting for the Nerazzurri to slip up. (And, with their injury woes and nine matches in the next month, it’s hard to imagine they won’t stutter at least a little bit.) Thanks to Roma’s and Fiorentina’s draws, Udine and Juve were able to leapfrog the Viola and draw level with Roma in second with their home wins. (Keep in mind, though, that Inter and Roma both have a game in hand.)

As I mentioned after the match, Juve, who have looked at least as lucky as they have good for the first three months of the season, were utterly unstoppable against Palermo yesterday; if their forms stays that sharp, the rest of the league is in big trouble. They travel to Milan next week, so Silvio Berlisconi is surely hoping for a Champions League-style defense rather than that practical, effective old Serie A style of closing down the midfield and not giving Andrea Pirlo and Ricky Kaka anywhere to go with the ball. Speaking of Milan, they managed to pull off a late win in Cagliari today, in spite of Kaka having a penalty saved, thanks to yet another brilliant Pirlo free kick. The three points move Milan into the top half of the table, finally, though they’re still 11 points behind Inter.

At the other end of the table, Livorno were the only team of the bottom five to win, grabbing a comprehensive 3-1 home win over Sampdoria and jumping clear of the relegation zone with 12 points, a number that draws them even with Parma, who went down to Lazio in an emotionally charged match in Rome. At Reggina, meanwhile, the miracle of Renzo Ulivieri continued as his team easily contained Fiorentina and moved a point off the bottom with a scoreless draw. Empoli, too, grabbed a point (at the expensive of Torino), and joined Reggina on 10 points, leaving Siena and Cagliari with the offical Most Pathetic labels, stuck together on nine points. Both, though, play bottom-half team next weekend — Siena are home to Lazio, while Cagliari host Livorno — so things at the bottom could change a lot by this time next Monday.

Full results, top of the table after the jump.

Cagliari-Milan 1-2
Empoli-Torino 0-0
Genoa-Roma 0-1: Old Man Panucci, again with the late header. My money’s on a deal with the devil — it’s the only explanation for such productivity at the age of 67.
Inter-Atalanta 2-1
Juventus-Palermo 5-0
Lazio-Parma 1-0: A massive, emotional win for Lazio, secured via an 89th minute goal by little-used Fabio Firmani.
Livorno-Sampdoria 3-1
Napoli-Catania 2-0: A double from Zalayeta got Napoli their first win in four matches — they’re still hanging around in a UEFA Cup spot.
Reggina-Fiorentina 0-0
Udinese-Siena 2-0

CLUB GP W L D PTS GD
Inter Milan 12 8 0 4 28 16
Juventus 13 7 2 4 25 16
Roma 12 7 1 4 25 10
Udinese 13 7 2 4 25 3
Fiorentina 13 6 1 6 24 10
Napoli 13 5 5 3 18 6
Atalanta 12 4 2 6 18 1
Palermo 13 4 3 6 18 -4

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Category: AC Milan, Fiorentina, Inter, Juventus, Results, Roma, Serie A, Udinese