Serie A - Week 27: Sunday Review

Filippo Inzaghi and Marco Di Vaio rolled back the years with hat-tricks in 3-0 Serie A home wins for AC Milan and Bologna against Atalanta and Sampdoria respectively while Fiorentina and Napoli both lost 2-0 on home soil against Palermo and Lazio respectively.

AC MILAN 3-0 ATALANTA
A hat-trick from Filippo Inzaghi inspired AC Milan to a comfortable win over Atalanta at the San Siro to ease some of the pressure on coach Carlo Ancelotti. The 35-year-old Inzaghi struck after just seven minuted and added further goals after 70 and 74 minutes to further strengthen their grip on third position in Serie A and increase their lead over fifth-place to six points. David Beckham shone on the day his stay with Milan until the end of the season was confirmed and he received a standing ovation as he left the field seconds before full-time.

FIORENTINA 0-2 PALERMO
Palermo kept their hopes of qualifying for next season's Europa League alive with a surprise 2-0 win at Champions League-chasing Fiorentina. Fabio Simplicio opened the scoring after 48 minutes for the visitors before Fabrizio Miccoli added a second eight minutes later as the Viola dropped five points behind Milan in the standings. Cesare Prandelli's side remain in the fourth Champions League spot but are just one point ahead of Genoa and Roma.

NAPOLI 0-2 LAZIO
Tommaso Rocchi scored two goals after coming on as a second-half substitute to hand Lazio a 2-0 win at Napoli. Rocchi was introduced after 56 minutes and made an immediate impact as he put the visitors ahead seconds later. The Biancoceleste captain struck again shortly after to hand the visitors all three points. The result sees Lazio climb to seventh in the standings, four points behind neighbours Roma, who hold the last European qualifying position. Defeat is a blow for under-pressure Napoli coach Edy Reja, whose team have now failed to win in nine consecutive games and remain 11th in Serie A.

BOLOGNA 3-0 SAMPDORIA
Serie A's top scorer, Marco Di Vaio, fired a hat-trick as Sinisa Mihajlovic's Bologna swept aside in-form Sampdoria 3-0 at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Di Vaio struck the opener on the stroke of half-time before scoring twice in the last four minutes of the game to hand his team three valuable points. The triumph was just the reaction Mihajlovic had called for after his team had only managed to collect one point from their previous five games and were in danger of falling into the relegation zone. The result has lifted Bologna two points clear of the relegation zone with 11 games remaining while it sees Sampdoria drop to 14th in the standings.

CATANIA 0-3 SIENA
Siena eased their relegation worries with an emphatic win at relegation rivals Catania with Massimo Maccarone scoring a stunning opener to set the visitors on their way to a 3-0 win. Maccarone embarked on a ninth-minute run before unleashing a shot from outside the area that left Albano Bizzarri with no chance. The Tuscans wrapped up the victory with late strikes from Abdel Ghezzal and Lucas Jarolim. The win takes Siena seven points clear of the relegation zone.

CHIEVO 1-1 CAGLIARI
Cagliari's European hopes suffered a setback as they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Chievo. Despite taking a first-half lead from the head of Jeda, the visitors were pegged back after the interval by Stephen Makinwa's strike. The Sardinians are now without a win in three Serie A matches and slip down to eighth in the standings - six points behind Roma, who occupy the final European qualification spot. It was not the ideal result either for Chievo, who remain third from bottom, although they are now level on points with Torino above them.

LECCE 0-0 REGGINA
Fabio Caserta had a last-gasp goal disallowed for offside as Lecce missed the opportunity to move out of the bottom three in their basement clash with Reggina after a 0-0 draw. Caserta was rightly flagged offside after deflecting the ball into the net with just a minute to go as the two sides remain in the bottom two places in Serie A. It was the visitors who had the better of a poor game at the Stadio Via del Mare and Bernardo Corradi missed a great chance with just seven minutes remaining when he was one on one with Cristian Puggioni but failed to test the Reggina goalkeeper.

SERIE A REVIEW:
[Saturday 7 Mar] - [Sunday 8 Mar]