Italian Serie A, Round 12, Saturday Early Match Update: Pastore, Di Natale Net Hat Tricks, Lazio Take First

A couple of great individual performances and Napoli’s inability to get shots on target were the big stories in Italy’s early fixtures. Lazio have gone top for the time being thanks to their 2-0 win over Napoli, two points clear of A.C. Milan, who play later today.

The lunchtime kickoff is a new thing in Italy this season, and the new fixture has brought mixed opinions. Of course, “lunchtime” in Italy means 5:30 am for me, so I apologize for not watching the game live. However, ESPN3 is basically the coolest thing ever. Thanks to its existence, I got to watch this game at a reasonable hour!

Lazio opened the scoring on the 15th minute through Mauro Zarate. Stefano Mauri played a fantastic ball to him over the top of the defense, which he chased down. Zarate beat Paolo Cannavaro to the ball with a combination of power and pace before calmly finishing past Morgan de Sanctis. It was the perfect start for the hosts.

Lazio would go up 2-0 on a Sergio Floccari goal in the 61st minute with Zarate getting in on the action yet again. Zarate and Hernanes had a great exchange of one touch passes out on the right hand side of the penalty area, culminating in Zarate laying the ball off to Floccari in the center of the area. He had an easy finish, sliding it low past de Sanctis.

Napoli had their fair share of chances, but just couldn’t capitalize. Ezequiel Lavezzi hit the woodwork once, Jose Ernesto Sosa had a great shot go just wide not long after Floccari’s goal, and Edinson Cavani blasted a point blank shot over the bar at the end of the match. Despite playing some decent football, Napoli only got one shot on target the entire match.

The other highlights from the early matches came from Udinese and Palermo, as stars Antonio Di Natale and Javier Pastore both netted hat tricks. Di Natale had gotten off to a slow start for Udinese, but Pastore has done anything but start slow for Palermo, establishing himself as one of the best young players in Serie A before this hat trick. Udinese defeated Lecce 4-0 with Floro Flores scoring the other goal, while Palermo defeated Catania 3-1. Di Natale now has five goals this season while Pastore has seven. With their wins, Palermo and Udinese have shot up to seventh and eighth places, respectably.

We’ll return with an update before the big derby between A.C. Milan and Inter Milan with a pre-match primer that has the starting lineups and analysis of how the squad selections of Rafael Benitez and Massimiliano Allegri might affect the match. Alexandre Pato is set to miss the match for Milan, while Pippo Inzaghi has recently been declared out for the season. This means that Ronaldinho and Robinho should both start, but Allegri might throw us a curveball.