The title race is, once again, wide open in Serie A

By Mirko Corli

Clarence Seedorf’s last-gasp long distance shot into the top-left corner of Chievo keeper Sorrentino’s net re-opened the race for the Scudetto.

Seedorf scored in injury time for AC Milan to secure a vital victory for the title race contenders. AC Milan is now only one point below Inter FC. They have to finish in front of the Nerazzurri in the league in order to win the title, and now every game will be a desperate fight for both teams.

AC Milan played without defenders Nesta, Bonera, and Antonini, and during the game they lost David Beckham: it seems the injury is very serious and David will miss the rest of the season and also the World Cup.

Inter lost 3-1 in Catania on Friday night: maybe their mind was already in London for the game against Chelsea, but the team looked something in between being shapeless and not focused enough.

Jose’s lads now have to get a positive result against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (playing a defensive game will be like committing suicide) in order to get into the round of the 8 best teams in Europe and to gain some confidence back for the Italian Championship. Key players are now facing strokes of poor form: Sneijder and Eto'o are not in good shape, the midfield has been suffering from injuries and red cards (Muntari, Cambiasso), and the defense is not as protected as before. Of course, a great responsibilty of the loss in  Catania is on Sulley Muntari’s shoulders because in less than two minutes he was booked, committed a foul just outside the box and then jumped with his left arm  over his head, giving Catania a penalty for 2-1 (without mentioning the fact he was sent off for the second yellow card).

Next week will be a pretty decisive one. Inter will play on Saturday night against Palermo (now in 4th place after loosing 3-2 with Udinese) and Milan will host Napoli at the San Siro.

Roma still has some chance for the title even if they are 6 points below Inter: the champions have yet to travel to Rome. But today the giallorossi lost a big chance to push for the title by drawing 3-3 in Livorno (now 17th in the league table), thanks to the hat-trick by Livorno’s icon Cristiano Lucarelli, with the first two goals absolutely identical.

Juventus had an amazing performance on Thursday against Fulham in the Europa League and after the first 9 minutes of their home game against Siena they were up 3-0. But then, the disaster came. Alberto Malesani’s lads - as i have been telling you for some weeks now - are in great shape and were able to draw in the close of an incredible game. Now they have caught Atalanta (22 points for both the teams at the bottom of the league), who lost 1-0 in Parma with their captain, former international player Cristiano Doni, sent off, and he will probably miss a few of the upcoming fixtures.

Incredible result for Siena, always in the race to avoid relegation.

Relegation is no longer an issue for Bari and Parma, as both won their games against Lazio and Atalanta: the amount of points they now have seems enough to be safe from Serie B.

Relegation is instead a real threat for Lazio: they’re now a free-falling team, with quality in it, but it is absolutely not used to fight for avoiding Serie B. This can be a key factor that puts them at high risk.

Good results for both Udinese (winning 3-2 against Palermo with a double from Floro Flores) and Fiorentina (3-1 in Napoli with a double from Alberto Gilardino). 

1-1 between Bologna and Sampdoria with both teams scoring in the last 5 minutes of the game: Bologna’s equaliser was clearly offside.

The most entertaining match of the day was the one in Genova with home side Genoa facing Cagliari and winning 5-3.

And now it’s time for the best goals of the week.

First, Rodrigo Palacio scores a nice heel-touch goal for Genoa against Cagliari and Marassi Stadium goes mad. 

Second, Cittadella’s striker Marco Ardemagni drives a powerful shot into the net of Lecce’s keeper: did i mention you the wild beauty of Serie B’s games? ;-) 

Third, the best pick: Edison Cavani’s bicycle trick against Udinese: awesome. 

That’s all folks, Serie A reports will come back next Monday! Isn’t it such a wonderful championship?