Italian Serie A, Round 12: Ten Men A.C. Milan Defeat Inter Milan 1-0

Rafa Benitez substituted Goran Pandev on for Diego Milito at halftime, a move that seemed questionable at the time due to Inter already having made substitution. It’s turned out to be a stroke of genius for Rafa, though, as Pandev’s mind games have caused Milan to go down to ten men.

Ignazio Abate was preparing to be substituted as he appeared to have picked up a knock. Aware that he was on a yellow card, Goran Pandev shoved him to provoke an incident, and Abate predictably shoved back. When the referee blew the whistle and approached the two, he was surrounded by Milan players and Abate realized his mistake instantly. Both players were predictably shown yellow cards, Abate his second of the match, and Milan were reduced to ten men.

Milan have been in control for most of the half, but Inter Milan finally showed signs of life in the final ten minutes. Unfortunately, it was a substitution that was made necessary by injury that started Inter’s rise back to respectability.

Between the opening whistle of the match and the substitution of Coutinho for Joel Obi, it was all Milan. This is no diss to Obi - the youngster played very hard in his time on the pitch - but Coutinho provides a different type of attacking flair and allows Inter Milan to play in a formation they’re more accustomed to. In the final ten minutes of play, Wesley Sneijder hit the side netting on a great free kick attempt, Ivan Cordoba had one spectacular surging run, and Coutinho, while he didn’t create anything significant, showed a couple of flashes of what he can bring to the Inter side.

A.C. Milan have the lead in the Milan Derby after only five minutes thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic...and Marco Materazzi.

On a counter-attack, Ibrahimovic surged into the box and was lazily tripped by Materazzi, forcing the referee to award a penalty. It wasn’t Ibrahimovic’s first surge forward, Inter have allowed him plenty of space in the early going. Both Lucio and Materazzi were in the vicinity and Ibrahimovic didn’t do anything spectacular to earn the spot kick, Materazzi just clumsily tripped him. It was a soft penalty in terms of what was done to earn it, but it was a stonewall penalty as far as the laws of the game go.

Both Juventus and Roma have put out lineups that could have been expected, likely leaving the match to be decided to the talents of the players rather than the tactical decisions of the managers. Two different 4-4-2 variations will be pitted against each other at Stadio Olimpico at Turin with big talent on display.

Juventus lineup (4-4-2): Storari / Grosso, Chiellini, Bonucci, Sorenson / Marchiso, Melo, Aquilani, Pepe / Iaquinta, Quagliarella

Thanks to a fantastic goal by Alberto Gilardino, Fiorentina have scraped out three points in an otherwise dull affair.

In the 59th minute, the Gila Monster controlled a ball sent into the center of the box, made a brilliant turn, and finished past the Cesena keeper with a great left footed shot to the top left corner. It was a great moment of brilliance that saved an otherwise boring encounter. Gilardino - and Fiorentina in general - has had a very up and down season, but his fifth goal in 12 matches has given his troubled side a much needed three points.

Cesena and Fiorentina are marching out almost matching formations, athough you can bet that Fiorentina will be the more fluid and attack-minded of the two sides. We’ll call Cesena’s lineup 4-4-1-1 and Fiorentina’s 4-2-3-1 just to make the distinction.

Cesena lineup (4-4-1-1): Antonioli / Lauro, von Bergen, Benalouane, Nagatomo / Giaccherini, Parolo, Colucci, Schelotto / Gimenez / Bogdani

Well, technically the match between Fiorentina and Cesena kicks off this weekend’s fixtures, but that’s really just the undercard for Saturday’s big face-off between Juventus and AS Roma. Come on, you know how this internet game works. More people are looking for Juve-Roma. Traffic baiting, son.

Yes, we will be covering the match between Cesena and Fiorentina.