Serie A 2012: Winter Transfer Market

The Winter transfer market allowed all clubs to shuffle a few cards in an attempt to strengthen their lineups but no one made a big purchase given the shortage of funds. This is a summary of main transfers for a few key clubs.

- Juventus: Conte’s club mostly sold older unused players and focused on strengthening its defense with Caceres while adding Borriello as a forward.

- Milan: With Cassano still out injured, Allegri’s team built its offensive lineup with Muntari in midfield and Maxi Lopez as a striker.

- Inter: Ranieri’s team focused on building up its struggling midfield with Palombo and Guarin while Thiago Motta was sold.

- Other teams: Lazio, Napoli, Roma made minor purchases hoping to discover new gems among a new batch of youthful talents from South America while Fiorentina added Amauri to replace Gilardino which left for Genoa.

Serie A 20: Matri’s double knocks out Udinese

Serie A 20 highlights.  In the 20th round Juventus confirmed itself queen of Serie A with a convincing win over a tough Udinese (2-1) thanks to 2 goals scored by Matri (photo). Milan however continued to manifest its intent to battle Juventus to the end by easily defeating Cagliari (3-0) and keeping itself only 1 point away from the leader.  Lazio moved up again to 3rd place with a win at Chievo (0-3 with Klose scoring twice) taking advantage of Inter’s surprising loss at Lecce (1-0). In other matches, Genoa defeated a struggling Napoli (3-2),  Fiorentina and Palermo clinched home wins while Atalanta won at Cesena.

Top standings:
- Juventus 44; Milan 43; Udinese 38; Lazio 36; Inter 35; Roma 31; Napoli 29;

Serie A 19: Juventus winter champion

Serie A 19 highlights. After 19 rounds, Conte’s Juventus completed the half of the season at the top of the standings claiming the nominal title of winter champions after winning at Atalanta (0-2) led by Lichsteiner (photo).  Allegri’s Milan kept up the pace in the 2nd place with a win at Novara (0-3) led by Ibrahmovic who scored 2 goals. In the 3rd place splendid Udinese narrowly defeated Catania (2-1) while Inter led by Milito clinched 4th place by defeating Lazio (2-1) coming back from behind.  Moving up the standings with home wins were Palermo and Roma while Napoli continued to struggle settling for another disappointing tie.

Standings:
- Juventus 41; Milan 40; Udinese 38; Inter 35; Lazio 33;
- Roma 30; Napoli 29; Palermo, Genoa, Chievo 24; Cagliari, Parma 23;
- Fiorentina, Catania 22; Bologna, Atalanta 20; Siena 19;
- Cesena 15; Lecce 13; Novara 12.

Serie A 18: Milito puts Inter back in the running

Serie A 18th round highlights: Juventus held the lead in the standings despite disappointing its fans as it was held at home to a tie (1-1) by Cagliari. This was possible because Udinese lost at Genoa (3-2) and more importantly Milan lost in the home city derby against a cynical Inter. Milan created most chances on goal but it was a defensive minded Inter scored the winning goal with Milito (photo) on counter attacks. In spite of remaining in 5th place, given Lazio’s win (2-0) over Atalanta, with this win Ranieri led Inter is almost back in the running for the title having cut the lead from the leader in the table to only 6 points.

Serie A 17: Matri insists Juventus is the leader

Serie A 17th round highlights:  Despite initial reservations, Juventus continued to prove that it is a key contender for the title this year winning at Lecce (0-1) with a goal scored by Matri (photo). Juventus however still had to share the lead with Milan which won at Atalanta (0-2) led as usual by Ibrahimovic. Udinese is also keeping itself in the top spots with another key win over Cesena (401) led by DiNatale who scored 2 goals.  While Lazio crumbled at Siena (4-0), Inter contineud its surge with another resounding win over Parma (5-0) led by Milito who scored 2 of the winning goals.

Serie A 16: Osvaldo tries to push Roma up

Serie A 16th round highlights:   In a top spot match up, Udinese and Juventus settled for a safe scoreless tie allowing Milan to taking advantage of the situation. Milan was able to move into first place with Juventus thanks to a key win at Cagliari (0-2). Inter also continued its march upward with an easy win (4-1) over Lecce while Napoli completely demolished (6-1) Genoa. The key score of the day perhaps came from Bologna where Roma, an ambitious but lagging team, won (0-2) playing good football led by Osvaldo (photo).

Serie A 15: Quagliarella keeps Juve running

Serie A 15th round highlights:  Juventus again took the lead in the standings by itself after easily defeating Novara (2-0) led by Pepe and Quagliarella (photo). Milan surged to 2nd place after defeating Siena (2-0) while taking of Udinese’s tie at Lazio (2-2). Inter moved up to clinch 5th place with a narrow win at Cesena (0-1) while Roma stunned Napoli winning (1-3)  away from home on Napoli’s turf.

Club World Cup 2011: Barcelona dominates

In the FIFA Club World Cup final, Barcelona, the reigning Champions League’s winner, demolished Santos, the Libertadores’ Champions, with a win (4-0) that surprised most. Messi dominated gameplay scoring 2 goals and the match seemed almost over by half time when Barcelona’s team (photo) was already up by 3 goals. This is Barcelona’s 2nd intercontinental win.

Serie A 14: DiNatale keeps Udinese dreaming

Serie A 14th round highlights:  Udinese reached the lead in the standings after defeating Chievo (2-1) led by top scorer DiNatale (photo), and taking advantage of Juventus’ tie (1-1) Roma. Milan also was held to a tie at Bologna (2-2) and was joined in 3rd place by Lazio which came back from behind to win at Lecce (2-3) Further behind in the standings Inter  collected a win over Fiorentina (2-0) as it tries to come back from behind in the standings.

Serie A 13: Ibrahimovic’s Milan chasing the top

Highlights of the 13th round of Serie A

Leaders: Juventus retained the lead defeating at home Cesena (2-0) led by Marchisio and Vidal but struggled quite a bit (In mid-week Juventus had also tied 3-3 at Napoli in an exciting match that was postponed last month). Conte’s Juventus will have to continue its winning pace however in order to retain the lead in the standings because Milan is becoming ever more dangerous after collecting yet another win at Genoa (0-2) led by Ibrahimovic (photo) and Nocerino. Udinese also remains at the top after clinching a win away from home (0-1) against Inter which is in deep crisis and close to the relegation zone.

Contenders: Napoli returned to victory defeating at home Lecce (4-2) led by the usual Cavani who scored 2 goals. Roma on the contrary crumbled in Firenze losing again to Fiorentina (3-0) led by Jovetic. In other matches among a string of ties, Cagliari won surprisingly at Catania (0-1) while Bologna returned to victory narrowly defeating Siena (1-0).

Results: Bologna – Siena 1-0; Catania – Cagliari 0-1; Chievo – Atalanta 0-0; Fiorentina  – Roma 3-0; Genoa-Milan 0-2; Inter – Udinese 0-1; Juventus – Cesena 2-0; Lazio – Novara (on Monday 12/5); Napoli – Lecce 4-2;
Parma – Palermo 0-0.

Standings: Juventus 29; Milan, Udinese 27; Lazio 22; Napoli, Palermo 20; Cagliari, Catania, Roma 17; Fiorentina, Parma, Chievo 16; Genoa, Atalanta  15; Siena, Inter, Bologna 14; Novara 10; Cesena 9; Lecce 8. (Note: Genoa and Inter have to make up one match; Lazio – Novara will be played on Monday 12/5/2011).