Serie A Sunday: Napoli Beat Cagliari 2-1 After Edinson Cavani Brace

Napoli Starting XI: De Sanctis; Ruiz, Santacroce, Cannavaro; Zuniga, Dossena, Pazienza, Yebda; Hamsik, Lavezzi, Cavani

Substitutes: Blasi, Lucarelli, Cribari, Aronica, Mascara, Sosa, Iezzo

Despite a thrilling midweek performance that saw Inter come from behind to beat Bayern Munich 3-2 and advance to the quarter finals of the Champions League, and despite the fact that most of the players included in the starting lineup played in that game on Tuesday, the nerazzurri look a totally different side. Perhaps the difference could be down to exhaustion -- after all, the match against Bayern was fast paced and intense, enough to drain anyone -- but it often seems as though Inter simply don’t know exactly where to be when a pass is played.

Lecce, for their part, have looked rather good, especially for a team in 18th place taking on last year’s champions. Of course, they also screwed up their best chance, in the 45th minute. Rubén Olivera sent the ball over from the left side but Nenad Tomović was entirely out of position, needing to race over to collect the pass and then hastily sending in the cross, which flew beyond the byline.

If Palermo had conceded, they would only have had themselves to blame after wasting several opportunities to score a second - they counterattacked at speed regularly in the second half against a flimsy-looking Milan defence, but simply couldn’t find the right pass or get a shot on target. The most blatant example was Daniel Martinez’s miss after he and Fabrizio Miccoli were one on one against Alessandro Nesta, but similar chances presented themselves throughout the half and were simply not taken advantage of.

Milan, meanwhile, always looked capable of breaking down the defence, and were exceptionally patient in their buildup play. After Pato was forced off with 25 minutes to go, Robinho, on in his countryman’s place, gave the visitors further impetus to attack, and his presence was the spark that led to Sirigu’s heroics - the goalkeeper had to be at his best to keep out a hammered shot from Mathieu Flamini and then pulled off a spectacular one-handed save after Antonio Cassano’s header caught his defence unawares.

I can’t imagine that the knock is particularly serious, considering that he managed to walk off the field rather than requiring a stretcher, but losing another star striker isn’t good news at all for the Rossoneri. However, Robinho has had an excellent start to his game, terrorising the Palermo defence and nearly setting up Mathieu Flamini for the equalising goal only to see him denied by a superb flying stop from Sirigu.

Palermo Starting XI: Sirigu; Munoz, Goian, Migliaccio; Darmian, Bacinovic, Nocerino, Balzaretti; Pastore; Pinilla, Ilicic

Bench: Miccoli, Benussi, Garcia, Hernandez, Acquah, Andelkovic, Maltese

And in the end that one goal was enough for all three points, proving that betting on one against the Seahorses was likely not a risky wager. The second minute goal came from Zárate, who picked up a pass from Giuseppe Sculli to poke the ball in from close range. That’s the first goal in three months for the Argentine, and while it may not have been spectacular it certainly was necessary.

Shortly after the restart, Lazio had a chance to double the lead, but Francesco Antonioli got a hand to it, pushing the ball into the post. With ten minutes remaining, Zárate had another shot at goal, but the ball sailed over the top of the net, while Alvaro González refused to pass the ball, wasting a chance instead.

Clearly Lazio coach Edy Reja looks at my previews and laughs: Libor Kozák good? Deserves a starting role? MWHAHAHAHAHA we’ll show her and her Czech-loving ways. Instead it’s Giuseppe Sculli that slots in for Sergio Floccari.

Lazio Starting XI: 86 Muslera; 5 Scaloni, 20 Biava, 3 Dias, 14 Garrido; 15 Gonzalez, 11 Matuzalem, 6 Mauri; 8 Hernanes; 10 Zarate, 77 Sculli