Serie A - The 2008-09 season thread

So do you think Pandev will stay or move abroad?

Calidad wrote:So do you think Pandev will stay or move abroad?

Unless Lazio demonstrate ambition this summer, I think quite a few of their stars are fair game to move abroad or to other sides. Pandev IMO is likely to move abroad, weren't there some rumours re Madrid?

This is so silly... Inter fans get banned just to even things out! If Roma fans are a threat and get banned, its their problem... why should the nerazzurri be banned??

Extending the same logic, since 6-7 of our starters are injured, why don't they suspend a few of Roma's starters to even things out?

Inter fans banned from Parma
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It has been confirmed that Inter fans will not be allowed to travel to Parma’s Stadio Tardini for the Nerazzurri’s Scudetto decider this weekend. The title race has gone to the wire and will be decided this Sunday, but the top two are both away from home for their all-important final games.

The initial decision from the Osservatorio – a task force set up to stem football-related violence – was that Inter supporters would be allowed to follow their side to Parma, while Roma fans were banned from visiting Catania. Police in Sicily had feared the possibility of violent clashes should Giallorossi tifosi pour into Catania and felt they should put safety first, while such concerns weren’t voiced in Emilia-Romagna.

However, this ruling provoked outrage in the peninsula as many saw it as an unfair advantage for the leaders. After reviewing the situation, Parma police chief Paolo Scarpis has announced that there will be no away fans at the Stadio Tardini on Sunday. “I had no doubt that the fans of Parma and Inter are well behaved but I have to declare that the away end will be closed to Nerazzurri Ultras and that the tickets will be given to school children or sold to the local public,” he stated.

“Furthermore, the indication from Rome’s police that Giallorossi fans could arrive has increased the possible danger. “The forces of law and order in our city will be in a position to control the situation and it is our duty to prevent any possible damage to the city. I hope that Sunday is a festival of sport whatever the final score is.” While there can be no more accusations of favouritism, there is likely to be widespread disappointment that fans will have to watch the finale of an epic title race on TV.

Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

Yeah, right. Inter is the corrupt team! We must have bribed the authorites to get the calciopoli verdict against innocent clubs like Juve and Milan, right?

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

Yeah, right. Inter is the corrupt team! We must have bribed the authorites to get the calciopoli verdict against innocent clubs like Juve and Milan, right?

Northerners are all the same, can't be trusted.

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

Yeah, right. Inter is the corrupt team! We must have bribed the authorites to get the calciopoli verdict against innocent clubs like Juve and Milan, right?

Northerners are all the same, can't be trusted.

Southern fans include Roman clubs among the "rich northerners".

Napoli is a club from south, not Roma!

And Roma can certainly grow richer with some Soros money coming their way

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

Yeah, right. Inter is the corrupt team! We must have bribed the authorites to get the calciopoli verdict against innocent clubs like Juve and Milan, right?

Northerners are all the same, can't be trusted.

Southern fans include Roman clubs among the "rich northerners".

Napoli is a club from south, not Roma!

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:

bluenine wrote:

PARMA! PARMA! PARMA!!! wrote:Just bribe them with money from your Northern Bank accounts, you do it with everything else.

Yeah, right. Inter is the corrupt team! We must have bribed the authorites to get the calciopoli verdict against innocent clubs like Juve and Milan, right?

Northerners are all the same, can't be trusted.

Southern fans include Roman clubs among the "rich northerners".

Napoli is a club from south, not Roma!

Never! The eternal city shall remain in the south! Just ask Zambrotta, the Northern snob.

End of season antics

(Archive)

Updated: May 9, 2008, 7:59 AM ET

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Desperate Livorno, the bottom side in Serie A with little chance of avoiding relegation, will enter their penultimate match of the season at home to Torino, without six of their regular players who were suspended on Tuesday for a total of 13 games. No surprise, perhaps, as right after the final whistle in last Sunday's Atalanta-Livorno game, five of them chased Simone Padoin, the Atalanta player who had scored an exquisite winner one minute from time, nullifying the visitors' comeback from 2-0 down.

AP

The Italian youngster's goal did not go down well.

Padoin, a 24-year-old left midfielder and defender, was roughed up by a few Livorno players, one of whom attacked him with an empty plastic bottle. His alleged crime? Padoin had violated the unspoken football rule that you just don't score near the end of a late-season game which has no meaning for your own side but carries a lot of significance for the other team.

The Livorno players' reaction was very similar to others seen throughout the years in the same circumstances, although all the players involved tried to deny - unconvincingly - that the reasons for their behaviour were anything other than sheer frustration at letting a game, and perhaps Livorno's place in Serie A, slip away with the last kick of the match.

Cue snickering from all quarters. The history of Italian football is littered by examples of dodgy late-season results and savage reactions by those who felt they had been at the receiving end of a fraud. There is obviously no definite proof that what happened in Bergamo on Sunday has roots in that old tradition, but the very fact everyone thought it did must mean something.

And that was not the only dubious result from last Sunday, judging from a scene from the San Siro press room after the Milan derby: as highlights from other matches were being shown, a couple of reporters commented on the clips from the Torino-Napoli game without knowing the final score from that match. When Torino scored a penalty, they nodded knowingly; when Napoli equalised, one of them expressed surprise and remarked how the goalscorer, Matteo Contini, could not help but put the ball in the net as he was only four yards or so from goal, but still almost managed to miss; and when the next clip showed David Di Michele scoring Torino's winner only a couple of minutes later, a sigh of 'that's more like it' went up, as if saying 'Napoli couldn't really spoil Torino's battle against relegation, could they?'.

Again, and this must be made clear, there is no proof at all that Napoli were just trying to pretend to be looking for a result when they actually weren't - I watched the whole match on tape and they tried hard all the time, in fact. But past experiences could teach a lesson or two about those dodgy late-season results.

One the strangest instances dates back to 1982. On the last day of the season, Napoli (just a coincidence) played Genoa at home, while Milan were at Cesena. Having gone through a difficult first season back from Serie B, where they had been sent as a punishment for the 1980 match-fixing scandal, Milan needed a win and a Genoa defeat in order to avoid relegation. With the Rossoneri keeping up their end of the business, winning 3-2, Genoa were 2-1 down late on when Napoli goalkeeper Luciano Castellini, a former scudetto winner with Torino, literally threw the ball for a corner kick, one of the weirdest and most unlikely scenes you're going to see in a professional football match.

From the resulting corner, Genoa equalised and Genoa fans and Napoli fans have been 'twinned' ever since - a typical Italian practice where two sets of fans seal a truce and support each other.

One year later, Genoa were again at the centre of a very suspicious incident, albeit not in the last day of the season. Struggling against relegation, they were playing Inter at home, six Serie A matches from the end of the season. With the score at 2-2, Inter midfielder Salvatore Bagni scored the winner, but when he turned around he noticed he was the only one celebrating, while all other Inter players had apparently no reaction or looked upset.

“ '[At Inter players] Your officials need to know you're scum! Things like this just aren't done five minutes from time!'. ”
A Genoa director

A few days later, a source told two young reporters for newspaper Il Giorno, Paolo Ziliani and Claudio Pea, how a brawl had broken out in the Inter dressing room after the match, while a Genoa director had screamed at the Inter players saying 'Your officials need to know you're scum! Things like this just aren't done five minutes from time!'.

Those words, in the much more direct original version in Italian ('Non si fanno queste cose a cinque minuti dalla fine'), became the title of a book Ziliani published in 2005 and was met with indifference and silence by most of the media. Indeed the Il Giorno investigation had been ridiculed by rival newspapers - some of them because they had been beaten to the scoop, others because you just don't touch big clubs like Inter - and Ziliani later wrote how one of his colleagues apparently approached Inter offering to stop him from further investigating.

Allegedly, several Inter players had placed bets - at the time betting was outlawed in Italy - on the match and Bagni, who was unaware of all of this, had ruined their afternoon. Genoa players tried to explain their behaviour by saying they had seen Inter slow down after their second equaliser and had been angered at the sudden burst of action that had brought Bagni's goal, but the explanation seemed awkward and the Italian Federation (FIGC) started an investigation.

A few months later, though, the prosecutor, Aldo Ferrari Ciboldi, was sacked and both Genoa and Inter were cleared of all charges as 'proofs were not substantial', a type of verdict that at the time was not among those that could be used by the FIGC. It was thought at the time the FIGC did not want another scandal only a year after Italy had won the World Cup.

Bizarrely, Bagni had suffered the consequences of his naiveté, or lack of awareness, on the last day of the 1978/79 season, too. He was playing for Perugia at the time, and the side from Umbria had just lost out to Milan for the title despite being unbeaten all season. Perugia were at Bologna, themselves desperate for at least a draw in order to avoid the drop to Serie B.

Decades of dodgy last-day results had led most of the fans to believe a draw was definitely on the cards, but Bagni scored twice in the first half and a cloud of despair and disbelief descended on the Stadio Dall'Ara. Before the half had ended, a Bologna defender elbowed Bagni in the face, sending him the message he had gone too far, and when Perugia took the field for the second half Bagni was nowhere to be seen, having been taken off. Inevitably, Bologna scored twice and avoided the drop on goal difference.

While it has no suspicious circumstances, Bologna's game against Juventus on January 13, 1980 can help us understand some of the dodgy dealings going on at the time and the mentality presiding over the outcomes of some matches at this stage of the season.

This is what Carlo Petrini, a Bologna player at the time, told a newspaper a few years ago: 'Three days before the match, Bologna's general manager told us both clubs had agreed on a draw. Everyone in the dressing room agreed on this, and all but two of us bet 50 million lira (a huge amount at the time) on the draw. Juve players told us none of them had bet any money because - in their words - they had already hit the jackpot a fortnight earlier against Ascoli. In the tunnel, I begged Trapattoni to keep their promise, and he nodded to me.

GettyImages

Serse Cosmi: Caught on camera.

'The first half was horrible, and the fans were booing us. Then in the second half [Juve winger] Franco Causio hit a speculative shot which our goalkeeper Giuseppe Zinetti could not hold and Juve were ahead. No one, not even Causio, celebrated, while we went crazy. I entered as a sub, and seconds before Bologna took a corner Roberto Bettega told me not to worry. The corner kick was swung in and [Juve defender] Sergio Brio headed into his own net'.

A month later a few Bologna players, including Petrini, placed their money on a draw against Avellino but failed to tell the others, so when Bologna scored, their opponents did not have time to equalise and many other players from other teams, not to mention the bookies, lost their money, which led to the disclosure of the affair.

While Petrini wrote of mid-season results which were arranged, the instances of suspicious late-season results have been too many to mention. A few years ago, then-Perugia coach Serse Cosmi, a veteran of lower-division football, while waiting to go on air during an evening talk show, was picked up by a microphone saying how the previous year Juve Stabia, a Serie C2 side based near Napoli, had lost any chance to qualify for the playoffs with eight games to go so from that moment on they basically threw all matches.

Cosmi added that in the latter part of the season agreements are usually made so that a particular player may find it easier to score and top the goalscorers' chart, increasing his market value. He was sued by some of those he had mentioned, but there has been no action over this matter for a while.

So, pay attention to the last two Serie A matches of the season. Hopefully, there will be no dodgy results and suspicious outcomes and sometimes it may just be a matter of 'football people' understanding their surroundings - but fans of relegation threatened Parma will still be hoping that Inter are confirmed as Italian champions on Sunday so their last game won't matter too much to them.

Zanetti is injured and is in doubt for this game... this is terrible news, just when we also lost Cambiasso and Chivu. Lets pray our inspirational captain recovers by sunday, its 50-50. Knowing Zanetti, if he has one fit leg, he will play for 90 minutes!!

Injured: Samuel, Cordoba, Chivu, Stankovic, Cambiasso, Figo, Ibrahimovic.

Likely starting lineup:

------------------Cesar
Maicon - Materazzi - Burdisso - Maxwell
Zanetti --- Vieira ---- Pele --- Jimenez
-----------Balotelli - Cruz

Subs: Toldo, Rivas, Maniche, Cesar, Crespo, Suazo

I would prefer to see Rivas starting instead of Burdisso, the Matrix+Burdisso partnership is too risky. Also would prefer Zanetti taking Cambiasso's place at the centre, with Cesar playing on the right, and Jimenez on the left. We need to attack Parma.

there is a small chance that Ibra may be fit enough to come in as a supersup if required. Not sure whether that would be a good idea anyways - Crespo/Suazo will be better supersubs. Stankovic is working hard to be fit for this game, and that may be a good idea! I hope Zanetti and Stankovic make it.

Zanetti, a Rolls Royce of a Player

bluenine wrote:Zanetti is injured and is in doubt for this game... this is terrible news, just when we also lost Cambiasso and Chivu. Lets pray our inspirational captain recovers by sunday, its 50-50. Knowing Zanetti, if he has one fit leg, he will play for 90 minutes!!

Injured: Samuel, Cordoba, Chivu, Stankovic, Cambiasso, Figo, Ibrahimovic.

Likely starting lineup:

------------------Cesar
Maicon - Materazzi - Burdisso - Maxwell
Zanetti --- Vieira ---- Pele --- Jimenez
-----------Balotelli - Cruz

Subs: Toldo, Rivas, Maniche, Cesar, Crespo, Suazo

I would prefer to see Rivas starting instead of Burdisso, the Matrix+Burdisso partnership is too risky. Also would prefer Zanetti taking Cambiasso's place at the centre, with Cesar playing on the right, and Jimenez on the left. We need to attack Parma.

there is a small chance that Ibra may be fit enough to come in as a supersup if required. Not sure whether that would be a good idea anyways - Crespo/Suazo will be better supersubs. Stankovic is working hard to be fit for this game, and that may be a good idea! I hope Zanetti and Stankovic make it.

Should have posted it in the final matchday thread.

Zanetti's injury is a big blow.
The injuries within the Inter team are sure to add on to the cliff-hanger we are headed towards. It certainly won't be easy for them.

Ade Alves wrote:Zanetti, a Rolls Royce of a Player

I think thats a compliment for Rolls Royce

Sam 1 - 2 Juv
Ist half in progress
Both Capocannoniere contenders (Trezeguet & Del Piero) on target so far

Great game so far

Sampdoria 2 - 2 Juventus
7' [0 - 1] A.D. Piero
16' [0 - 2] D. Trezeguet (pen.)
22' [1 - 2] A. Cassano
39' [2 - 2] C. Maggio
45' A. Cassano missed a pen.

Ahem. I made a Matchday 38 thread for this: http://europeanboard.ephpbb.com/european-leagues-f4/one-game-one-point-serie-a-final-week-roma-or-inter-t16209.htm

BM you need to find and BUMB that thread where you said that you believed that Roma could win the Scudetto.

Juligen wrote:BM you need to find and BUMB that thread where you said that you believed that Roma could win the Scudetto.

http://europeanboard.ephpbb.com/european-leagues-f4/have-inter-blown-their-chances-of-a-scudetto-t15101.htm?highlight=inter

I'll Bump it after tomorrow's matches.

FORZA GIALLOBLU!!! wrote:

Juligen wrote:BM you need to find and BUMB that thread where you said that you believed that Roma could win the Scudetto.

http://europeanboard.ephpbb.com/european-leagues-f4/have-inter-blown-their-chances-of-a-scudetto-t15101.htm?highlight=inter

I'll Bump it after tomorrow's matches.

YES, that is the one only one game now, we have to keep the faith

Well done Inter. And well done Fiorentina.

Inter = Serie A Champions 2007/2008

Champions League = Inter, Roma, Juventus, and Fiorentina

UEFA Cup = Milan, Sampdoria, Udinese

Relegated = Parma, Empoli, Livorno (just a guess re these clubs)

Samp in the UEFA !

If they sign Cheva he could come up against the glorified fitness instructor that is Juande Ramos

Napoli are going to go for it!

Very happy for all Partenopei!

Napoli enter Intertoto Cup
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Napoli will enter the Intertoto Cup and aim to reach Europe, announced President Aurelio De Laurentiis. There had been doubts over whether the San Paolo side was going to take this route or wait for next season, but this evening he took a stand. “I honestly did not expect to be making this decision at the start of the season, as I predicted we’d finish between 10th and 12th,” he said of the top eight team.

“We did well and got to Europe much quicker than expected. Now we have to keep our feet on the ground and try to climb up through the Intertoto Cup.” It is already quite an achievement for a patron who took on the club in financial ruins and guided it up from Serie C. “On an emotional level Napoli has given me such great experiences. To dedicate myself to this project I left the United States four years ago, because I believed in Napoli,” continued the movie mogul.

“Now I can state I will not abandon football and will always be actively leading this club into the future.” That could well mean expanding the side’s reach all over the globe as well as in Europe. “I always believed Napoli were a great prospect because they have a unique set of fans all over the world. They are the strength of this side and give us the fuel to keep going and make our project international.”

Congratulazioni bluenine!

&

Thanx for the good news about Napoli.

Can Juve fans/anyone tell me anything about Davide Lanzafame. I've not seen anything of him...It's just that it's pretty certain he's signing for West Ham through the work of Gianluca Nani.

West Ham e Sampdoria wrote:Can Juve fans/anyone tell me anything about Davide Lanzafame. I've not seen anything of him...It's just that it's pretty certain he's signing for West Ham through the work of Gianluca Nani.

I have never seen him either, but had a discussion recently on young italian strikers with some mates (very knowledgable Italians) who have seen him... he is apparently a great prospect for Italy, and they are convinced that he should be called up for the Azzurrini - he is pacy and can dribble past players at great speed. He has scored 10 goals this season in Serie B. A lot of Serie A sides are interested in him, and he is likely to be used as a leverage on a big deal by Juve this summer. There were some talks regarding a swap with Santacroce, but Napoli are not interested in parting with their "new Nesta".

Not sure its a good idea for West Ham, Italian youngsters have not always cut it at EPL. Its always better to let a youngster mature in familiar surroundings before trying him in a new league.

I understand that Bluey and cheers for the info. Nani obviously seems to think that he can bring in players from Serie A to fit at West Ham. That's why we are also interested in Valon Behrami and Stefano Guberti.

One thing I will say though...as you will know yourself, we have an excellent youth academy and have fantastic coaches who work wonders with young players. It's no surprise we've used 4/5 more academy players this season. So if Lanzafame does come here for the expected 1 year loan deal (with option for permanent)...I think he'd be in good hands.

Congratulations to Inter

Hard luck for Roma...they really fought well & were nearly there

Great comeback into the Serie A by Juventus & especially after securing 3rd spot & getting into next season's CL.

A well deserved 4th spot to Fiorentina & congratulations for making it to the CL as well

...and good luck to Milan in their efforts to re-build. I am sure there will follow some high profile signings this summer. And when that happens they will be a side to watch next season

All in all, we seem to be headed for an intense battle next season with the likes of Juventus & Fiorentina becoming more competitive, Roma & Inter already the top sides & probably a rebuilt Milan adding to a 5 way race. And then teams like Sampdoria, Udinese & Napoli have battled very admirably this season. Who knows if they could be challenging for a top 4 finish