Week 12: And Then There Was One

By: Martha | November 12th, 2007

Reggina yay [If you're looking for the latest on the tragic events in Italy yesterday and their repercussions, go here.]

The big on-pitch story of the weekend was Udinese’s 2-1 away win over Fiorentina, a result that denied the home side their chance to go top over idle Inter, and also broke the Viola’s season-long unbeaten run in all competitions, leaving Inter the only Serie A team without a loss. The match was hard-fought and intense, complete with head bandages and a sending-off, and Cesare Prandelli was gracious in defeat, admitting that Udine were the better side on the day. The win lifted the northern club into a tie for third in the table with Roma who, like Inter, didn’t play, and Juve, whose miracle comeback at Parma made them the only team in last week’s top four to pick up a point. Palermo’s win over Napoli, meanwhile, moved them quietly into seventh, just three points behind the third-place logjam.

So, considering Inter and Roma did nothing but sit around and twiddle their thumbs all weekend, things turned out remarkable well for them: Inter remained top by two points and Roma, despite being caught by both Udine and Juve, remain only three points off the lead, which is the only thing they’re really worried about.

At the other end of the table, the relegation teams went nuts — both Reggina and Livorno won. Seriously! Renzo Ulivieri has done amazing things in his short time at the Reggina helm, first going to high-flying Napoli and taking a point, and then beating Genoa, another just-promoted club opening eyes in Serie A, by a score of 2-0. If he keeps this up, they’ll be erecting a statue of him outside the ground. The three points taken by both those clubs has created a giant, sticky mess at the bottom, made up of five clubs (those two, plus Siena, Empoli and Cagliari), all on nine points. Just a point above them are Lazio, who were idle this week but are definitely not out of the woods. As I’ve said before, there are surely several people at that club secretly hoping they go out of Champions League ASAP, so they can get back to concentrating on survival.

Full results, top of the table after the jump.

Atalanta-Milan [abandoned]
Fiorentina-Udinese 1-2
Inter-Lazio [postponed]
Palermo-Napoli 2-1
Parma-Juventus 2-2: Juve, once again, are crying about a penalty decision. All is right with the world.
Reggina-Genoa 2-0
Roma-Cagliari [postponed]
Sampdoria-Empoli 3-0
Siena-Livorno 2-3
Torino-Catania 1-1: BRUTAL. As if surviving wasn’t already going to be tough enough, Toro lost Alessandro Rosina to a muscle problem, and David De Michele to what could be a serious knee injury (though nothing is broken). French teenager Dominique Malonga did get his first goal for the club, though I’d imagine that’s slight consolation at this point.

CLUB GP W L D PTS
Inter Milan 11 7 0 4 25
Fiorentina 12 6 1 5 23
Juventus 12 6 2 4 22
Roma 11 6 1 4 22
Udinese 12 6 2 4 22
Atalanta 12 4 1 7 19
Palermo 12 4 2 6 18