Bologna Draws Level with Napoli

Marco Di Vaio, Serie A league leader in goals, slotted his 16^th goal to give Bologna a draw against its match with Napoli. He tapped in the rebound from a thunderous volley from Sergio Volpi after taking the ball from a defensive error committed by the Napoli backfield. The young striker has been one of the stars in an otherwise bleaks season for Bologna.

The attack came three minutes after Napoli’s Christian Maggio put his side ahead from a German Denis assist from the right of the penalty box. The scrambling play was capped by two successive errors by the Napoli defence after their inability to clear the ball from their side of the pitch.

The second half was a game of exchanges, with the highlight being another attempt by Bologna’s David Bomabrdini hitting the cross post. With the draw, their Champions League window may be closing as they have only mustered two points in six matches, placing them seventh over-all in the Serie A league standings. They need to win their next few matches, especially ones played away, to compete for their shot at Champions League glory.

Crespo and Milito to stay put

Inter Milan’s Argentine striker Hernan Crespo is not leaving the club, at least not for now. Lso, Genoa’s forward Diego Milito will stay at his current club, the agent for both players Fernando Hidalgo, has revealed.

Crespo has been frozen out of action under Jose Mourinho, while Milito’s 13 goals in Serie A this season have attracted interest from several clubs.

“For Crespo, we explored and discarded at least three possibilities that wanted to take him [on loan] for six months. At the moment, I can say he will remain with Inter until the end of the season,” he explained.

Genoa are currently enjoying a good run of form, and are sitting in fourth place right now. Hidalgo also said that Milito will be going nowhere: “Until June he remains at Genoa, that is for certain. Then we will see.”

Panucci faces Roma exit

Christian Panucci seems set to leave Roma, after coach Luciano Spalletti left him out of the squad for the game against Palermo on Wednesday.

The player himself revealed earlier that Spalletti does not respect him and he wants to leave the club, refusing to sit on the bench against Napoli.

Reagrding the present situation, Spalletti said: “Panucci was disrespectful in the way that he acted. I don’t know if he will stay or go. I need to take the will of the player into consideration, and seeing as he does not want to play for the team he has not been called up. We will take a look at the defence again if we decide to sell Panucci.”

Panucci’s contract at Roma runs out in the summer, and although he is 25 years old, there are still a few clubs who would like to have the experienced defender in their ranks. Even Milan have expressed their interest in the player recently, and they will no doubt be monitoring the situaton closely.

Trezi-goal returns for Juventus

Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri has confirmed the return of French striker David Trezeguet, as he prepares for the game against Udinese. Also, another striker, Vicenzo Iaquinta also returns after an injury.

“Trezeguet will be on the bench. He could be available. He has been training well and he is in the recovery phase. I will evaluate everything, then if he gives me the okay, we will we see”, he said.
“Players are returning and this could be good for us. Not long ago I had many injuries and this caused problems.”

About the game, he warned of the danger possessed by Udinese: “Its important for us to get the result. Udinese are an excellent team but they are going through a negative period. They have the players and I am sure they will react against Juve because they want to show that they can climb out of their situation.

Juve wll be hoping for 3 more points, as they look to put some pressure on Inter, who are only 3 points ahead in 1st place.

Lazio fans in angry protest

Lazio fans showed up at the club’s training ground, to protest the team’s humiliating home defeat to Cagliari on Sunday.

Lazio lost 4-1, and the result seems to have upset some fans who invaded the training ground,  abused and threatened the players. A few fans climbed the security fence and confronted players, causing coach Delio Rossi to abandon the session as a number of players ran for cover.

“You are a bunch of women and mercenaries,” shouted one angry fan, as reported byItalian media. One supporter even asked goalkeeper Aleksander Kolarov for a fight and he warned the Serbian to be ready for him when he came out of the ground.

Rossi was quick to try and defuse the tension: “You are right to be annoyed but please lets calm down and we can talk about this later,” he told the angry fans.

The coach then calmly walked back, and he told his players to carry on with their training. Lazio were also confronted by angry fans on Sunday after the match, and they even blocked the team bus from leaving the stadium.

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