© EuroFootball.com
On Sunday, the remaining 20th round matches took place in the Italian league. The important victory was achieved by the "Inter" team, the main rivals of this team for the title "Roma" managed to earn just one point for the second time in a row, "Empoli" climbed to fourth place, "Lazio" shared points with "Milan", and the new "Udinese" coach Alberto Malesani celebrated a victory in his debut match.
The league leader, "Inter," found themselves in a challenging position, but thanks to three goals, they managed to defeat the "Fiorentina" team at home with a score of 3-1.
The match started somewhat unexpectedly - in the fifth minute, Fabio Liverani's cross found a unmarked Luca Toni in the "Inter" penalty area, and the Italian scored with a header to put the visitors ahead. "Inter" managed to quickly react, and in the 19th minute, Adriano passed the ball to Dejan Stanković who equalized the score with a precise shot.
Just five minutes later, Adriano put the "Inter" team ahead with a penalty kick, showing that the Brazilian was in good sporting form. The Milan club scored their third goal thanks to a controversial decision by the referee. Zlatan Ibrahimović's headed shot towards the goal was pushed away by the "Fiorentina" goalkeeper Sebastien Frey, but the ball ended up back with the Swede, who struck again, this time with his foot. The Florence club's goalkeeper once again pushed the ball away, but this time the referee awarded the goal, as in his opinion, the ball crossed the line during the shot.
"Roma" played to a 1-1 draw at "Livorno" and moved further away from the first-place "Inter" club.
In the 22nd minute, the capital team's defender Matteo Ferrari brought down the opponent Cristiano Lucarelli in his team's penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty kick to the visitors. Lucarelli stepped up to take the shot and scored successfully. "Roma" equalized in the 74th minute. The newcomer Christian Wilhelmsson of this team passed the ball to the team captain Francesco Totti and the most productive player in "Serie A" defeated the opponents' goalkeeper.
However, F. Totti's match ended negatively. The player clashed several times with his opponent Fabio Galante and in one situation, he earned a red card for himself. The player was so angry that he even pushed his personal coach Vito Scala while leaving the field. The disciplinary committee will consider the player's behavior, and if he is disqualified for more than one match, he will miss a very important match against "Inter."
The "Empoli" team, who won at home against "Sampdoria" 2-0, managed to climb to fourth place in the standings.
In the 55th minute, Ighli Vannucchi entered the "Sampdoria" penalty area, where he was brought down by opponent Luigi Sala, and the referee immediately awarded a penalty kick to the visitors. Luca Saudati successfully converted the penalty. The second goal was scored at the end of the match. "Sampdoria" tried their best to equalize the score, but left too many gaps in defense, and Davide Matteini took advantage of them to score his team's second goal.
The new "Udinese" coach Alberto Malesani began his career successfully at the new club - the team won 1-0 against the "Messina" club at home. The victory was guaranteed for the club by a goal scored by Vincenzo Iaquinta in the 76th minute. The Italian sent the ball into the opponents' goal with his head after a corner kick.
"Siena" defeated the "Chievo" team 2-1 at home. Although the visitors took the lead in the 25th minute with a goal from Matteo Brighi, in the second half "Siena," thanks to Luca Antonini and Daniele Portanova, turned the score around and won three points.
"Parma" unexpectedly managed to defeat the "Torino" team at home with a score of 1-0. The hero of the match was Giuseppe Rossi, who arrived on loan from the "Manchester United" club. The player's goal in the 75th minute, after dribbling past four defenders, defeated the opponents' goalkeeper Massimo Taibi.
"Catania" experienced their first home defeat of the season, losing to the "Cagliari" team, who usually play poorly away from home. The match ended with a score of 1-0. The visitors' victory was decided by a precise penalty kick by David Suazo in the 8th minute.
In the last round of matches, "Lazio" hosted the "Milan" club in Rome, but the highly anticipated match ended goalless, with a score of 0-0.
Results of the Sunday matches:
3 – 1
5` [0 – 1] Luca Toni
19` [1 – 1] Dejan Stankovic
24` [2 – 1] Adriano
71` [3 – 1] Zlatan Ibrahimovic
1 – 1
20` [1 – 0] Cristiano Lucarelli (11m)
73` [1 – 1] Francesco Totti
90` Francesco Totti sent off ("Roma")
2 – 0
55` [1 – 0] Luca Saudati (11m)
86` [2 – 0] Davide Matteini
1 – 0
76` [1 – 0] Vincenzo Iaquinta
2 – 1
25` [0 – 1] Matteo Brighi
62` [1 – 1] Luca Antonini
67` [2 – 1] Daniele Portanova
1 – 0
75` [1 – 0] Giuseppe Rossi
0 – 1
8` [0 – 1] David Suazo (11m)
0 – 0
Top scorers of the championship:
1. Francesco Totti ("Roma") – 13;
2. Gionathan Spinesi ("Catania") – 11;
3-6. Adrian Mutu ("Fiorentina") – 10;
Rolando Bianchi ("Fiorentina") – 10;
Cristiano Doni ("Atalanta") – 10;
Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") – 10;
7-10. Fabio Quagliarella ("Sampdoria") – 9;
Christian Rigano ("Messina") – 9;
Zlatan Ibrahimovic ("Inter") – 9;
Vincenzo Iaquinta ("Udinese") – 9;
11-12. Amauri ("Palermo") – 8;
Igor Budan ("Parma") – 8.
