Week 18, Or: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Pato!

By: Martha | January 14th, 2008

ZOMG YOU GUYS FOOTBALL IS SO FUN! Milan not only scored at the San Siro, but they won there, too. And it’s all down to Pato! ALL HAIL PATO! Wait, what? You say Ronaldo scored twice, and that Pato didn’t sprout wings and fly around the ground while choirs of angels sang his praises? Seriously? But … haven’t you seen the papers? I swear that’s what they said!

Sorry, I’m having a really hard time dealing in a non-cynical manner with the avalanche of Pato!Hype under which all of football is in danger of being buried — let’s just deal with the facts, shall we? Milan looked great. Really, really great. And Pato was fast, strong, and lively. He looked like a really talented, nervous debutant who was trying to do too much most of the time, but he took his chance well and cried after he scored, which was a nice reminder that he really is just a little kid. Opposite him, meanwhile, was his more rotund countryman who was fit for the the first time this season and was obviously beyond thrilled just to be on the pitch, and playing with freedom. If Ronaldo can stay healthy and Pato can handle the physical strain of playing all the games Milan have coming up in the next several months (Serie A, Champions League and Coppa Italia, plus midweek matches to play out those three games in hand) they certainly look ready to burst out of the middle of the table.

Up in the area of the table to which Milan aspire, Inter and Roma took another step away from the pack this weekend. Both won away and both got great goals from the usual suspects (Usual suspects, that is, if I tell you there were stepovers involved in Roma’s goal.); with Juve managing only a last gasp draw in Sicily, the gap between Inter and the Old Lady is now in double digits, while Roma remain seven points back. Four points back of Juve are Udinese, who played a man down against Cagliari for an hour yesterday and still managed a 1-0 win. Lurking just a point behind Udine are Fiorentina, who seem to have righted their ship and managed to grind out a gritty away win at Parma on the strength of two Adrian Mutu goals. And, sitting in the sixth European spot are Palermo who, based on their thrashing at the hands of Sampdoria yesterday, are seconds from being overtaken by the team from Genoa, now sitting just a point behind them.

Down at the bottom of the table, Cagliari are screwed. Screwed, screwed, screwed. They’re stuck on 10 points, four adrift of the other relegation-threatened clubs, and no matter what changes are made on their bench, the results just don’t seem to change. They do, however, face fellow strugglers Reggina (second-bottom on 14 points) next weekend, and if they can find a way to win that one there might be hope, at least for a few days. Despite their largely impressive performance against Inter yesterday, Siena are in trouble, too, with 14 points and a trip to Palermo next weekend — if they can find a way to deepen the Rosanero misery, though, they may have a chances of turning things around. (Just as an aside, a kid even younger than The Great Pato scored for them yesterday. Don’t expect to see any mention of that in the press, though, as Fernando Forestieri isn’t ~~cursed~~ blessed with the power of the Milan Media Machine behind him. He is, however, in the Italian youth set-up — keep an eye out.) Looking around nervously just above the drop zone are Empoli, on 16, and Torino, who are just a point above them and realized yesterday that an unbreakable string of drab draws is a whole lot better than one of the obvious alternatives.

Full results, top of the table after the jump.

Atalanta – Roma 1-2
Cagliari – Udinese 0-1
Catania – Juventus 1-1
Empoli – Reggina 1-1
Lazio – Genoa 1-2: Oh, Lazio. Four points above the drop, and going in the wrong direction — not the best time to play a Napoli team, still smarting from the Milan thrashing.
Milan – Napoli 5-2
Parma – Fiorentina 1-2
Samp – Palermo 3-0: I think we can safely say Antonio Cassano has found his form: He created endless chances for the people around him, and ended the match with a with an alert, poacher’s goal. Now if he could just track down some sanity somewhere, the Azzurri could safely come calling.
Siena – Inter 2-3
Torino – Livorno 1-2

CLUB W L D PTS GD
Inter Milan 14 0 4 46 29
Roma 11 1 6 39 16
Juventus 10 2 6 36 20
Udinese 9 4 5 32 2
Fiorentina 8 3 7 31 11
Palermo 6 5 7 25 -5
Sampdoria 7 8 3 24 1
Napoli 6 7 5 23 0