Serie A Sunday: Boring Day Caps Boring Weekend
Ok, so the Chievo match was kind of exciting. Whether a last-minute goal by Davide Moscardelli to scupper the visitors’ unbeaten streak was exciting enough to overcome the natural issues this game was subject too on account of being Chievo vs. Genoa, the only footballing contest that sounds as though it’d be more interesting as a lawsuit, I leave for others to decide. Although the guests went 1-0 up shortly after half time through Rodrigo Palacio, Dario Dainelli got himself sent off ten minutes later, and Chievo took advantage (despite missing the subsequent penalty) to eventually overrun the Genoa defence, with Moscardelli heading home in the 93rd minute. 2-1.
Novara and Atalanta battled it out in a fairly controversial match in which Atalanta ended up 2-1 winners. Goals by Matias Schelotto and Luca Cignari had put the hosts in a fairly comfortable position by the end of the match, but Novara nearly pulled off a shock comeback but ultimately failed, mostly thanks to the linesman's flag. Filippo Porcari netted in the 89th minute, but actually set up the equaliser in injury time only for Pablo Granoche's effort to be ruled out - entirely incorrectly - for offside. Unfortunate!
Andrea Esposito got himself sent off for Lecce in their defeat at Siena, but they were already 2-0 down at the time so the red card didn't really mean a great deal. The home side had gone ahead through Mattia Destro in the very early going and Emmanuele Caliao added a second before Esposito was shown a second yellow for a foul on Destro. With the numerical advantage an a 2-0 lead, there was only ever going to be one winner at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Caliao added another a few minutes later to make it 3-0, and that's how things would close out.
Foolishly, I’ve saved the draws for last. Whoops.
Udinese played pretty miserably at Cagliari and it was the home side who looked more likely to score, but they didn't, because that would have been fun. Samir Handanovic was marginally the busier of the two goalkeepers, but Cagliari's finishing was fairly poor and they failed to get the goal their general play deserved. Disappointing from Udinese.
Lazio and Palermo must have come close to setting a record at the Stadio Olimpico, with 37 shots compared to zero goals. However, there are shots and there are shots, and nobody would dare suggest that the chances were flowing in the match. Lazio had the better of things and probably should have won it, but Cristian Brocchi opted to miss rather than score in the last minute, which seems like a poor life decision.
Catania hosted Juventus and forced their visitors to have to pull off a minor comeback after going ahead in the 21st minute, with a cross by Alejandro Gomez being met by the left foot of Gonzalo Bergessio to shoot past Gianluigi Buffon. Juventu's response was immediate but the visitors failed to beat Mariano Andujar until the second half, where upon the goalkeeper more or less beat himself in allowing a long range effort by Milos Krasic to fly past him and into the back of the net. Catania had a chance to win the game in injury time, but, in keeping with the Serie A today sans Chievo, didn't.
