Week 27, Or: An Evil Referee and a Rampant Fiorentina

By: Martha | March 5th, 2007

Ibra taking on a poor soul in maroon. This weekend had everything — charges of corruption, saved penalties, buckets of goal, and utterly gorgeous weather. (Did you see the stands? Those people were wearing light jackets! I want to be in Italy, dammit.) The result of all the drama, however, was the usual: Inter lengthened their lead at the top (It’s SIXTEEN POINTS, for the love of God.), Fiorentina continue to climb up the table, almost making us forget about their 15 point penalty, and despite their semi-heroics in picking up a point each, Parma and Ascoli still can’t get off the bottom.

Away from the absolute top and the bottom, though, there was a bit of movement. Among those seeking a European place, thanks to the evil, cheating referees, Palermo lost and are now just two points ahead of Lazio in third. The next two teams, Empoli and Milan, both won as well and are creeping up towards those Champions League spots. (And, looking ahead, in a rematch of one of the most exciting games of the season Palermo face Fiorentina next week. If the Viola continue in their current vein of form, at this time next week we could see someone new in third for the first time in months.)

At the other end of the table, poor Claudio Ranieri saw three points slip through his fingers (stupid Americans), while Messina were lifting themselves triumphantly out of the drop zone with that controversial win over Palermo. And Ascoli, despite miraculously holding on for a point against Roma are, well, still going down.

Full results are after the jump.

Ascoli - Roma 1-1
Cagliari - Atalanta 2-0
Catania - Siena 1-1
Fiorentina - Torino 5-1
Lazio - Sampdoria 1-0
Livorno - Inter 1-2
Messina - Palermo 2-0
Milan - Chievo 3-1: In which Dida stunk up the joint. Cue more rumors about his departure.
Parma - Reggina 2-2: Giuseppi Rossi converted a penalty at the death to get Parma a point (yay!). Of course, he also had a DREADFUL penalty attemped saved earlier in the game, thus costing the team two crucial points (boo!).
Udinese - Empoli 0-1