© EuroFootball.com
On Sunday, the remaining 24th round matches took place in the Italian championship. "Lazio", "Fiorentina", and "Sampdoria" achieved important victories in the battle for places in next year's European tournaments, while their main rivals, "Palermo", "Atalanta", and "Catania", failed to overcome their opponents.
The "Lazio" team hosted the "Torino" club, coached by former "Lazio" strategist Alberto Zaccheroni. The Rome team celebrated a victory with a score of 2-0.
Two goals by Macedonian Goran Pandev brought the victory to the hosts. In the 10th minute, he received a pass from his teammate Massimo Mutarelli and put the ball past the opposing goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. In the 60th minute, G. Pandev received the ball from Stefano Mauri and his shot hit the target once again.
Meanwhile, "Palermo", the neighbor of "Lazio" in the league table, failed to beat "Chievo" at home and played a draw with the Verona club.
In the last minutes of the match, "Fiorentina" managed to defeat "Catania" with a score of 1-0. This match was supposed to be "Catania's" home game, but due to tragic riots two weeks ago when a police officer was killed, the club lost the right to play at home stadium, so this match took place in the city of Rimini.
The breakthrough in the match occurred in the 58th minute, when "Catania" defender Mauro Minelli received a red card for a foul against his opponent. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority, "Fiorentina" players dominated the field and scored the winning goal in the 87th minute. Luca Toni headed in Manuel Pasqualio's cross into the opponent's goal.
Claudio Ranieri's debut in "Serie A" as the coach of the "Parma" team was unsuccessful - his team lost 0-1 at home to the "Sampdoria" team. A goal scored by Fabio Quagliarello in the 57th minute brought victory to the Genoa club.
In the most productive Saturday matches, "Udinese" wasted a two-goal advantage and only managed to draw 2-2 with the underdog "Ascoli".
"Udinese" took the lead in the 35th minute. Vincenzo Iaquinta was left one-on-one with the opponent's goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca and his first shot was saved, but V. Iaquinta got lucky as the ball rebounded to him and this time he was left to send the ball into the empty net. The Udinese team doubled their advantage in just seven minutes. The same V. Iaquinta passed the ball to Paulo Barreto, and the Brazilian defeated the opponent's goalkeeper.
However, "Ascoli" surprisingly managed to equalize in the second half. In the 58th minute, Simone Pesce crossed the ball into the opponent's penalty area and there, unmarked by anyone, Andrea Soncin headed the ball into the goal. Just 11 minutes later, after Viktor Boudianski's shot rebounded off the crossbar, Andrea Soncin reacted quickly and sent the ball into the net for the second time, becoming the hero of the match and earning an important point for his team.
"Reggina" hosted the "Atalanta" club and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The hosts scored the first goal in this match. In the 64th minute, a great pass by Giacomo Tedesco reached Nicola Amoruso who ruthlessly sent the ball into the opponent's goal. However, ten minutes later, "Reggina" defender Maurizio Lanzaro, trying to clear a shot by the opponent Leonardo Talamonti, directed the ball into his own net and the result was equalized.
"Livorno" finally ended their streak of failures by defeating the "Messina" team 2-1 at home. The hosts took the lead thanks to the opponent's goalkeeper's mistake. Stefano Fiore shot directly at the "Messina" goalkeeper Nicholas Caglioni, who failed to catch the ball and it ended up in the net.
"Livorno" secured the victory in the 69th minute with a goal by Cristiano Lucarelli. The Italian received a pass from David Balleri and, controlling the ball with his chest, skillfully struck the ball into the net.
"Messina" managed to score a consolation goal - Marco Zoro's goal in the 88th minute narrowed the gap, but the "Livorno" players managed to defend and secure a victory after a 10-match break.
Results of Sunday matches:
2 - 0 10' [1 - 0] Goran Pandev 60' [2 - 0] Goran Pandev
1 - 1 23' [1 - 0] David Di Michele 45' [1 - 1] Victor Obinna
0 - 1 87' [0 - 1] Luca Toni
58' Mauro Minelli ("Catania") sent off the field
0 - 1 57' [0 - 1] Fabio Quagliarella
2 - 2 35' [0 - 1] Vincenzo Iaquinta 41' [0 - 2] Paulo Barreto 58' [1 - 2] Andrea Soncin 69' [2 - 2] Andrea Soncin
1 - 1 63' [1 - 0] Nicola Amoruso 74' [1 - 1] Maurizio Lanzaro (own goal)
2 - 1 26' [1 - 0] Stefano Fiore 69' [2 - 0] Cristiano Lucarelli 88' [2 - 1] Marco Zoro
Most productive players in the championship:
1. Francesco Totti ("Roma") - 14 goals; 2-3. Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") - 12 goals; Rolando Bianchi ("Reggina") - 12 goals; 4. Gionathan Spinesi ("Catania") - 11 goals; 5-10. Adrian Mutu ("Fiorentina") - 10 goals; Cristiano Doni ("Atalanta") - 10 goals; Zlatan Ibrahimovic ("Inter") - 10 goals; Cristiano Lucarelli ("Livorno") - 10 goals; Vincenzo Iaquinta ("Udinese") - 10 goals; Fabio Quagliarella ("Sampdoria") - 10 goals; 11-12. Christian Rigano ("Messina") - 9 goals; Tommaso Rocchi ("Lazio") - 9 goals; 13-16. Amauri ("Palermo") - 8 goals; Igor Budan ("Parma") - 8 goals; Hernan Crespo ("Inter") - 8 goals; Nicola Amoruso ("Reggina") - 8 goals; 17-23. Sasa Bjelanovic ("Ascoli") - 7 goals; Alberto Gilardino ("Milan") - 7 goals; Amantino Mancini ("Roma") - 7 goals; Goran Pandev ("Lazio") - 7 goals; David Di Michele ("Palermo") - 7 goals; Eugenio Corini ("Palermo") - 7 goals; David Suazo ("Cagliari") - 7 goals.
League table:
Note: due to a corruption scandal, "Fiorentina" had 15 points deducted, "Reggina" - 11, "Milan" - 8, "Lazio" - 3. Due to financial reasons, "Siena" had 1 point deducted.
