It was a weekend to remember in Serie A as the race for Europe and relegation heated up whilst Napoli and Milan flexed their muscles in the race for the Scudetto.
Saturday offered up a slice each with AC Milan crushing an increasingly desperate Parma and Napoli overcoming Roma away from home.
For Milan, Saturday’s encounter at the San Siro provided the perfect opportunity for the league leaders to warm up before Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Tottenham.
Goals from Clarence Seedorf and Antonio Cassano put Maximilliano Allegri’s side in control within ten minutes. And two goals in the space of five minutes from Brazilian Robinho left Milan cruising with time to spare in what could prove to be a key confidence boost following last week’s disappointing draw with Genoa.
Meanwhile Napoli overcame a true test of their mettle with a 2-0 win away at challengers Roma.
In a close fought contest, Edinson Cavani was once again the man of the moment, scoring a penalty on 50 minutes and sealing the victory with just seven minutes to go to keep the pressure on the Rossoneri and the gap between at just three points.
A day later, the pressure switched to an out of sorts Lazio. In a season which started with a surprisingly impressive run of form, the Rome club have snapped back to reality in recent weeks following a poor run of form.
However, Sunday’s trip to Brescia provided Edy Reja’s side with a much needed victory, which was just their second of the year so far. A first half goal from Álvaro González saw the Sky Blues take a deserved lead into half time.
With Brescia third from bottom, confidence was low and when Libor Kozak added a second on the hour mark the game was all but over, and Lazio moved back to third.
Two points and two places off Lazio are Udinese, who continued their extraordinary run of form with a 3-0 away victory at second bottom Cesena.
Goal machine Antonio Di Natale continued his rich vein of form with another impressive brace, and in-between Gokhan Inler sealed the win for the Friuli who stretched their unbeaten run to eight games.
The win saw Udinese move three points clear of Palermo, after the Sicilian suffered a rare home loss to Fiorentina.
Perhaps most frustratingly of all, Palermo let a lead slip twice, as the Viola provided some much needed back bone after a season of meek indifference.
Javier Pastore opened the scoring for Palermo on seven minutes, but Fiorentina were level just after the half hour mark through Alberto Gilardino.
And the Viola’s hard work was soon undone after the break with Antonio Nocerino restoring the home side’s advantage. The match turned again when a blistering final twenty minutes saw Siniša Mihajlović's side roar back. Michele Camporese levelled the scores before a Cesare Bovo own goal and a late strike from Riccardo Montolivo saw Fiorentina move to tenth, albeit eight points off Palermo.
More of a threat are the ever impressive Cagliari in ninth, and just three points above the Viola. A dazzling first half display saw Cagliari take control early against Chievo with goals from Daniele Conti, Michele Canini and Nene putting the home side 3-0 up at half time. The subdued second period then saw Nene complete a brace before Cyril Théréau pulled one back for Chievo who endured a host of missed chances despite the one sided 4-1 scoreline.
The defeat provided a welcome tonic for Sampdoria, who closed to within a point of the Flying Donkeys after overcoming Bologna 3-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
One win in eight had left manager Domenico Di Carlo under pressure for results. But the opening 15 minute spell saw Samp take a dominant lead. Angelo Palombo started things off with a goal after just eight minutes before Daniele Gastaldello and Massimo Maccarone added two more.
A Daniele Paponi goal on 65 minutes did reduce the deficit with time to spare, but in truth the win never looked in doubt for Sampdoria, who will undoubtedly look to build on the result over the coming weeks.
That result also saw Di Carlo’s men move above Genoa, who drew a blank away at bottom side Bari with a 0-0 draw, though it could have been worse had the home side not had a legitimate goal from Stefano Okaka ruled out.
Sunday also saw head to head clashes at both ends of the table. First off there was Catania vs Lecce with the clubs separated by just a single point before the start of play.
Catania took the early initiative when Matias Silverstre scored on half time. But Lecce fought back strongly at the start of the second half with Jeda and Gianni Munari completing a quick fire turn around.
The half time substitute Francesco Lodi then proved inspirational for Catania, with the player equalising on 79 minutes before claiming the winner with just six minutes remaining. The defeat enabled Catania to leapfrog Lecce, with the two clubs in 16th and 17th place respectively and still perilously close to the bottom three.
Despite Catania’s heroics and the continued success of Udinese, Napoli and Milan, the Monday morning headlines will undoubtedly belong to Juventus, as the Old Lady marked their return to the big time with a crucial 1-0 over Inter Milan in the Derby d’Italia.
In what was also the battle of the new strikers with Juve’s Alessandro Matri lining up against Inter’s Giampaolo Pazzini, and it was the former that had the final word, with the Bianconeri’s only goal on 30 minutes.
The final minutes saw Samuel Eto’o strike the cross bar before a miss from Pazzini as Juve stood strong where once they would have crumbled. Luigi Del Neri’s side thus moved to within three points of Inter and just seven off leaders AC Milan. With 13 rounds to go, it would appear that The Old Lady is far from singing.