| Serie A: Udinese, Atalanta and Napoli cut down big guns |
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| Monday, 31 March 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Carlo Ancelotti's side, who as holders were dumped out of the Champions League by Arsenal this month, had the whistles of the San Siro crowd ringing in their ears following a fourth home league defeat of the season. Andrea Pirlo missed a penalty in a frantic last five minutes when Paolo Maldini had given Milan hope with a header and team mate Alessandro Nesta was sent off for protesting. Sergio Floccari put Atalanta ahead when his first effort was saved by Zeljko Kalac but ballooned into the air, allowing the forward to follow up with Milan's defence just watching. The visitors went 2-0 up when Floccari sliced through the backline and set up Antonio Langella, who hurdled a weak challenge by Massimo Oddo before striking home. The home side, without the injured Kaka, rallied in the second half and were unfortunate when Clarence Seedorf had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside. Massimo Ambrosini headed in but that effort was chalked off for a foul on the goalkeeper and the midfielder was then denied a strong shout for a penalty. He was brought down again by Claudio Rivalta late on and this time the spotkick was given, only for Ferdinando Coppola to dive full-stretch to keep out Pirlo's effort. Milan are four points adrift of the fourth Champions League qualifying berth with seven games. Ancelotti has said he is not in danger of being sacked even if they have to play in the UEFA Cup.
Napoli secured salvation in the top flight after scoring a 1-0 win over Palermo at the San Paolo. Off-season midfield signing Marek Hamsik scored the winner in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to gift to home crowd bragging rights over their southern rivals.
The Sicilian side is now struggling on 36 points, 4 behind Napoli, and now are locked in a relegation fight along with nine other teams.
NAPOLI-PALERMO 1-0 (First Half 0-0) SCORER: Hamsik 92nd minute. NAPOLI (3-5-2): Gianello; Cannavaro, Contini, Domizzi; Grava (16' st Garics), Blasi, Pazienza, Hamsik, Savini (15' st Bogliacino); Lavezzi, Calaiò (27' st Sosa). Navarro, Rullo, Montervino, Dalla Bona. All. Reja. PALERMO (4-4-1-1): A. Fontana; Cassani, Zaccardo (10' pt Cossentino), Barzagli, Balzaretti; Jankovic, Migliaccio, Guana, Caserta (44' st Gio. Tedesco); Simplicio (25' st Bresciano); Amauri. (Agliardi, Cani, Di Matteo, Romeo). All. Colantuono. Fiorentina still occupy fourth spot but Udinese are now just three points behind in fifth after a confident home victory over their rivals. Swiss midfielder Goekhan Inler put Udinese ahead with a fierce shot in the first half before substitute Christian Vieri equalised for the visitors with a header. Italy striker Antonio Di Natale then ran half the length of the field to put the hosts back in front and Fabio Quagliarella nodded in their third. The game between third-placed Juventus and struggling Parma was postponed after a Parma fan was accidentally knocked down and killed by a bus following a spat with rival supporters. Leaders Inter Milan drew 1-1 at Lazio on Saturday when second-placed AS Roma managed the same score at Cagliari.
The death of a Parma supporter prior to the Juventus-Parma clash has postponed the game which was to be held in Torino.
AAP |
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Marek Hamsik scored a 92nd minute winner for Napoli over Palermo while AC Milan slipped back to sixth in Serie A on Sunday after they lost 2-1 at home to Atalanta and rivals Udinese beat Fiorentina 3-1.| < Prev | Next > |
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