Serie A Sunday: Halftime Reports
For as much as these things matter in the fifth week of the season, it seems appropriate to say Udinese have reclaimed the top of the Serie A table, at least temporarily. Mehdi Benatia scored from a corner to keep the zebrette unbeaten, and likely to stay that way against Bologna.
Thiago Ribeiro has both a goal and an assist on Davide Biondini’s goal as Lecce continue to struggle. It was a tough fight to survive last season, but it may be an impossible battle this time around. Cagliari, meanwhile, are off to a flying start, set to take all three points in this match and make it ten overall on the season.
Cesena 0-0 Chievo Verona
Hey, Cesena could earn a point! Moving on.
It’s the Sebastian Giovinco show in Parma as the diminutive attacker bags a brace, making it five goals in four matches for the little guy. No one else in Gialloblù has managed to score once this season, by the way. Looks like Genoa’s attacking style might have been figured out.
Fiorentina 1-1 Lazio
After just five minutes, you had the feeling that Alessio Cerci was going to score for Fiorentina -- and score he did, off a gorgeous pass from Stevan Jovetic, who just barely managed to keep the ball in play before sending it on to Cerci. Unfortunately for the home side, Hernanes equalized for Lazio, performing a pretty little stepover before sliding in his left-footed shot.
Oh Siena. In Serie A, we tend to not leave players unmarked during set pieces. If you do, you just might get punished, as with Giulio Migliaccio’s goal for Palermo. But you’ve got 45 minutes to get back in this thing!
I swear, the best games are always on when normal (read: Americans) people are sleeping. Exhibit A: Napoli-Lazio of last season. Exhibit B: today's match between Novara and Catania, which clearly wasn't supposed to be a thriller, but turned out that way as both sides traded goals. It looked as though Novara would have to settle for a 2-2 home draw when Jeda scored the go-ahead goal at 85 minutes. But then Catania managed an injury-time equalizer, leaving both sides to share the spoils.
