By guest writer: Andrea Valcroce

The twenty-third weekend of the Serie A season offered little in the way of vintage fixtures. Of course, this did not stop rival fans clashing before the Udinese-Napoli match, which ended 3-1 to the home team thanks to Antonio Di Natale’s hat-trick, making him top scorer in the league with sixteen goals and reinforcing his claim to a place in Italy’s world cup starting eleven. Since Inter’s derby win two weeks ago seems to have cemented their procession to another title, the biggest on-field action concerned the chase for Champions League spots.

On Saturday evening, for his second game in charge, Alberto Zaccheroni switched Juventus to a three-man defense in the hope of revitalizing their chances of European football next season. Away to sixteenth-placed Livorno, the new defensive set-up was breached after barely thirty minutes, as none of the three stoppers opted to mark Antonio Filippini, who was lurking in the six-yard box to head in a cross. Nevertheless, the half ended with honors even as a lobbed free kick by Diego found the back of the net after a powerful header from centreback Nicola Legrotagglie, who perhaps felt guilty for the earlier defensive aberration that is in keeping with the story of their season.

The second half offered little sign of a Juventus footballing renaissance as the game petered out to a draw, leaving the twenty-seven times league winners off the pace in seventh spot. Desultory passages of play all too often ended with tame shots from distance as Amauri led the frontline fruitlessly whilst Livorno piled on the pressure, especially in the final fifteen minutes. Big summer signing Felipe Melo continued his disappointing first season in midfield with a late dismissal for a foolish second booking. His poor form alongside the inability to make better use of Brazilian playmaker Diego suggest Juventus are yet to find an adequate replacement for Pavel Nedved, who for much of the last decade provided the necessary link between creation and attack.

Former Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri, now boss of Roma, went head to head with canny Cesare Prandelli’s Fiorentina on Sunday evening. In mid-week both teams experienced contrasting fortunes in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia: Roma beating Udinese two-nil whereas Fiorentina lost by a goal to league-leaders Inter. Ranieri, often said to lack the killer instinct that turns teams into champions, afterwards conceded Inter are playing on a different level and resigned himself to securing a champions league spot this season. In the race to the European lucre, Fiorentina have been off the pace recently and thus knew that this home match was an important opportunity to re-establish their ambitions in the face of strong challenges by Napoli, Palermo and Sampdoria.

The team from Florence put in a strong first-half display. Italian midfielder Riccardo Montolivo – a good choice to inject some youth in Italy’s ageing national team – pulled the strings and offered a glorious chance for right-back Lorenzo De Silvestri who blasted his shot over, whilst Roma’s ‘keeper pulled off a fine save to deny Juan Manuel Vargas’ powerful volley. The second half saw Fiorentina create several half chances through the skillful interplay between Alberto Gilardino and Stevan Jovetić but also exposed repeated aerial weakness in both attacking and defending corners. It was from a Roma corner in the eighty-second minute that Montenegrin striker Mirko Vučinić pulled free from his marker to control the ball and bury it past Sebastien Frey in the nets, giving the Giallorossi a precious away win.

The result takes them second in the table following Milan’s limp goalless draw with Bologna, leaving an eight- and ten-point gap respectively with high-scoring Inter, who comfortably beat Cagliari three-nil. Fiorentina, who have done very well on limited resources to reach the knockout round of the Champions League, remain rooted in mid-table with hopes of climbing the table dependent on a significant improvement in their goal-scoring record. Given the continuing struggles of both Fiorentina and Juventus, it appears the race for fourth spot might well result in one of Napoli, Sampdoria or Palermo flying the flag for Serie A in Europe’s premier club competition next season.