Serie A - Week 25: Sunday Review

AC Milan defeated a resurgent Cagliari 1-0 at the San Siro to consolidate third place in Serie A while Genoa triumphed by the same scoreline at Napoli to remain on the coattails of fourth-placed Fiorentina, who secured a late win against Chievo. Catania, Lazio, Sampdoria and Torino all picked up three points.

AC MILAN 1-0 CAGLIARI
An injury-ravaged AC Milan responded to wins by city rivals Inter and Juventus to move back to within 11 points of the Serie A summit with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Cagliari at the San Siro. Clarence Seedorf scored the only goal of the game after 65 minutes in a disappointing Milan performance against a care-free Cagliari. The visitors are practically safe from relegation with 37 points already obtained this season, and they played with an air of confidence you would usually expect from the Rossoneri. Cagliari were not rewarded for their efforts though with an Andrea Cossu strike against the post the closest they came to scoring.

FIORENTINA 2-1 CHIEVO
Fiorentina looked to be suffering a hangover from their midweek UEFA Cup defeat to Ajax as they laboured to a narrow 2-1 win over 10-man Chievo. Struggling Chievo went ahead through Santiago Morero and lead for almost an hour before Alberto Gilardino levelled the score with less than 20 minutes remaining. A frantic final 10 minutes then saw Vincenzo Italiano dismissed for his second yellow card before Adrian Mutu, with the last touch of the game, ensured all three points remained in Florence. The result sees La Viola move back into fourth spot in Serie A, one point ahead of Genoa and two from Roma.

NAPOLI 0-1 GENOA
Genoa kept up their push for a UEFA Champions League spot with a narrow 1-0 win at out-of-form Napoli. Bosko Jankovic latched onto a Thiago Motta pass to score the only goal of the game midway through the second half. The result would have been enough to lift Genoa into the top four had Fiorentina not claimed a last-minute winner against Chievo. As it was they had to be content with fifth, one point behind the Viola but nine ahead of their opponents, whose early-season form has melted away with this their seventh match without a win.

SAMPDORIA 1-0 ATALANTA
Sampdoria put a little more breathing space between themselves and the Serie A drop zone with a narrow 1-0 victory over Atalanta. Giampaolo Pazzini's goal after 61 minutes settled the result in Samp's favour to earn their first victory in four league attempts and came on the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday. The Blucerchiati climb one spot to 14th, seven points clear of Lecce and the relegation zone. The visitors saw their three-match winning streak ended, though, with Luigi Del Neri's men still sitting eighth.

LECCE 0-2 LAZIO
Lazio stopped the rot as goals from Pasquale Foggia and Aleksandar Kolarov lifted the struggling Roman outfit to a 2-0 victory at Lecce. Foggia struck after 10 minutes before Kolarov extended his team's lead shortly after the restart to hand Lazio their first win in Serie A since January 11. Luck was not on Lecce's side, with the hosts being denied by the post three times, with Lazio goalkeeper Fernando Muslera already beaten. The outcome left Delio Rossi's side 11th in the standings, eight points behind Roma, who hold the last European qualifying spot.

TORINO 1-0 UDINESE
Torino defeated Udinese 1-0 for their first victory in 2009 to climb out of the relegation zone. Granata defender Paolo Dellafiore struck with just 10 minutes remaining to hand his team all three points, while Udinese ended the game reduced to 10 men after defender Maurizio Domizzi was sent off for dissent. The outcome lifted Walter Novellino's side to 17th in the standings, one point clear of the drop zone while it ended Udinese's four-game streak without defeat.

CATANIA 2-0 REGGINA
Catania eased their relegation concerns and pushed Reggina closer to the Serie A trapdoor with a 2-0 victory at the Stadio Angelo Massimino. Defenders Ciro Capuano and Alessandro Potenza scored in each half to leave the visitors three points adrift at the foot of the table. Catania, though, are now eight points clear of the bottom three and their impressive home form looks set to ensure top-flight survival.

SERIE A REVIEW:
[Saturday 21 Feb] - [Sunday 22 Feb]