Juventus-Napoli preview

AC Milan V Barcelona

This was such a perfect advert for the Italian game, it was free flowing had some spectacular defending. the only thing it was lacking was goals but my God, they did have their fair share of chances. Milan came into this game with maybe not the most ideal squad with Thiago silva out injured, no Ignazio Abate or Alex Pato and some of the returning players were not quite match fit, like Kevin Prince Boateng, Robinho and Nesta, but the latter out in a magnificent performance, by using all his experience he managed to keep the onslaught of Barcelona attacks at bay! That is what many people forget and they only look at their age and just label them as being too old, but what people forget is, to get this far in the competition you start to need the experience and intelligence, and you can't win the major trophies with just pace!

Milan had the first chance to open the scoring in the early minute but Robinho shot it over, having not played for a while had shown in his performance, yet they tried hard and defended well but also had the confidence to attack Barca'. Milan may have only had 35% possession but they did force the keeper to make 3 crucial saves- the same as Barca', Barca' may have had 18 shots but only 3 had forced Cristian Abiatti into action.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was impressive throughout the match, but what impressed me the most was when late into the second half, Barcelona were growing desperate for that away goal and a Barca' player was quite literally stuck to him and just as you thought he might lash out, he kept his cool and played his way out of it. The Rossoneri will need that coolness and clear thinking when they go to Spain for the second leg.

Juventus V Inter- Do or Die!

The stage was set, the anticipation had been reaching an all time high, and what better time to score your first goal in the new stadium, than now? Alessandro Del Piero scored his first Serie A goal in the second half and what an important goal?? The fans were tremendous and made themselves heard- and seen! With rather cheeky banners!

The first half was a little scary to watch, I must admit, yet for the neutrals amongst us, it was a very open and entertaining first half with chances and both ends, yet it was Inter and Diego Milito that did have the better of the chances which caused Gianluigi Buffon to make some excellent saves. During the first half there was a peculiar moment where it looked as though Mirku Vucinic took the ball off Claudio Marchisio- his teammate! Antonio Conte has to keep an eye on incidents like this as it seemed that Marchisio was in a better shooting position before the ball was taken away from him and he was barged out of the way. The first 45 minutes didn't see the best out of Alessandro Matri and Simone Pepe, and they were ultimately subbed. Leonardo Bonnuci came on for Pepe and Alex Del Piero came on for Matri, Antonio Conte saw things were not working out and tinkered the system unlike the " tinkerman", Ranieri who stuck with his system and didn't move forward in the game, they actually started to seem rather tired and out of ideas.

Juve find themselves again just 4 points behind Milan, yet with Milan playing Catania next week and Juve playing against Napoli, one can hardley rest! The Old Lady is looking on the up though, with their 19 shots 12 were on target forcing the keeper to make 10 saves, which tells me they have been doing more target practice and reading my blog! On the other hand, Milan will be without their "rock" at the back, Thiago Silva for 3-4 weeks, a huge blow for Milan and could even tip the title back in Juventus' favour! Who knows what will happen, all you can say with absolute certainty is that, ITALIAN FOOTBALL IS FAR FROM BEING BORING!

Juventus-Inter preview

Juventus V Milan- Coppa Italia pt2

What a pulsating game, so much so that I almost passed out during the game and hence me waiting a day to write about it! There were whispers before the match that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not going to play because of flu type symptoms, and when I saw him in the line up, I was slightly less than happy. But I was also surprised that he was going to be risked since they had a big game against Roma on Saturday, however the big Swede did have to be taken off halfway yet that did nothing to hinder Milan's advances, it actually spurred them on to get the equalizer.


Alessandro Del Piero may have not scored in the League but he maybe he was just reserving the best for the big occasions... and maybe for SOME people ( the pundits on ESPN) this is not a big occasion, but for a team like Juventus, who have been through some terrible times, this is very meaningful, and to beat Milan was the cherry on top. Juve went into the game with a 2-1 lead and Del Piero scored on the 28th minute to ease some pressure, yet this is Milan and they mean business, so it wasn't long before they got the equalizer and put some real pressure on Juve. They had their share of chances, but it took Milan to get goalscoring after Zlatan was taken off. You could see Juve just relax ever so slightly when Ibra wasn't there anymore, they thought they were scot free... they were wrong, as Mesbah scored for Milan making it 1-1 on the night.


The good sign from The Old Lady is that they didn't panic and the kept their shape and above all - they were determined not to squander their lead. Yet even with the brilliant run from Poalo De Ceglie and efforts from Vucinic and Giaccherini they went behind in the 81st minute from a wonder strike from Maxi Lopez, This then left the situation rather unsettling, to say the least!


It had then forced the gut wrecting reality of extra time, Vucinic was the player who was perhaps meant to settle this as he had tried in normal time- even if they were slightly off target. It was Juve back in front, but this was Milan and if the get chances, they will score. But they didn't and by some luck Juve managed to keep the lead and keep all eleven players on the pitch! It ended 4-3 on aggregate and Juventus will either meet Napoli or Siena, whomever it ends up being Juve should try to remember to kill off the game as early as possible and try to keep their heads as Chiellini and Vidal were putting in some wayward tackles and Vucinic almost talked his way into the book when he wouldn't stop arguing with the ref and even Del Piero, the " mild mannered" Captain was starting a battle with fellow veteran, Clarence Seedorf. Also did anyone else notice that the players were taking a tumble a little too often?