Week 28, Or: The Tension Rises at Both Ends of the Table

By: Martha | March 12th, 2007

Zanetti Apart from Inter’s unrelenting sprint and Roma’s respectable ability to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the table, things are really tightening up at the top. Thanks to Lazio’s impressive form and Palermo’s inability to stop feeling sorry for themselves and just win a game, we have a tie for third for the first time since … when? The second week of the season? Anyway, it’s been a long damn time. Lazio and Palermo are joint third on 46 points, with Empoli and Milan in the UEFA Cup spots with 42 and 40 points, respectively. Four points behind Milan are Fiorentina, who really stumbled by dropping a point to 10-man Palermo yesterday, but are still within shouting distance of Europe (quite impressive when you consider that 15-point penalty with which they started the season).

At the other end of the table, don’t look now but something good actually happened for Ascoli! (Whose uniforms, by the way, I recently realized I really like. Those narrow stripes are sharp.) Not only did they grab a win over Siena this weekend, but those three points hauled them into a tie with Parma — can I get an amen? Granted, getting their hopes for survival up at this point would probably be sadistically cruel, but a look up the table sees Reggina on 22, only three points away, and Messina two points ahead of them. I mean, safety isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, is it? Why yes, I do still believe in Santa Claus. Why do you ask?

Full results after the jump.

Atalanta - Parma 1-1: Claudio Ranieri’s Brave New World is not going well at all. Not only has he still not won a game since arriving in Parma, but he’s actually taken the team backwards down the table. What do you think are the odds he’ll be sacked before the end of the season?
Chievo - Messina 1-1
Empoli - Livorno 2-2
Inter - Milan 2-1
Palermo - Fiorentina 1-1
Reggina - Lazio 2-3
Roma - Udinese 3-1
Sampdoria - Cagliari 1-1: Cagliari were wearing the ugliest kits in creation for this game. The entire team were inexplicable wearing long-sleeved, sickly green shirts, the color and style of Dida’s favorite jersey. And bright red shorts that completely didn’t match, it was a debacle. I tried to watch but, frankly, couldn’t stand the sartorial train wreck for more than a half.
Siena - Ascoli 0-1
Torino - Catania 1-0