Inter's 17th consecutive win isn't news, just like the umpteenth Totti's mistake from the penalty spot. Today we want to talk about three teams that have been punished after Calciopoli scandal, and now are trying to get into Europe by its main door: Champions League. Now it's Lazio seating on the fourth step, but Milan is just one point behind and Fiorentina is some distance from them but maybe is in very good shape and don't mind if they are six points under. Reasonably, they are fighting for just one place, but we see that Palermo is in a bad moment and there are still 14 games to play. Will the Sicilians resist in the Top Four? We'll see...

Another remark we should do is that all the people saying this year Serie A is not so good, are a little bit wrong. Take for example the table as it would be if all those teams weren't penalized. At least for the top 6, it should be: Inter 66, AS Roma 52, Fiorentina 46, Palermo 44, AC Milan 44, Lazio 40. Top teams are all there, except Juve that is still paying for its scandals, so it's not Inter's fault if they are too strong. We should talk anout no history for its strenght, but not that the level is lower than the past for the reason Juve is not there.

Anyway, yesterday night AC Milan won without deserving, for the second time three points came during the extra-time, once again Ambrosini's header has been decisive: without him now Milan would be sixth with 31 points, 35 less then Inter. Ronaldo played badly, but had to carry the weight of the attack as Oliveira has been replaced by Cafu after 10', due to Oddo's sending-off. Mach 11th is going to be the moment of truth for Ancelotti: that day his team will play against Inter for the derby. Anyway, choosing Ronaldo -that cannot play Champions League- Milan has shown how important is fourth place to them.

Lazio forward Tommaso Rocchi is the man of the day. His beautiful goal in Cagliari has been applauded by all the viewers, and he had a standing ovation by the opposite fans, and this doesn't happen every day, especially in Italy, where fair play is just a pipe-dream. Now Lazio on Wednesday is going to play Catania at the Stadio Olimpico, it won't be easy, though Catania is in deep crisis and needs some point after the unsuccessful match against Inter.

We think Fiorentina is Serie A third best team, after Inter and Roma (according to Mutu, they are second, after Inter). They have a good coach, a fantastic pair of forwards, Luca Toni and Adrian Mutu, a technical skilled player as Liverani and some good youngsters (Montolivo, Pazzini and Donadel). Sporting director Pantaleo Corvino confirms their interest to young players: today Fiorentina has signed Arturo Lupoli (Arsenal forward, now at Derby County on loan) for the next five years. So, Neapolitan forward will be back to Italy since July, as he left Parma some years ago, "stolen" by Arsenal.

So, as from now until the end of may, at least we'll see an exciting fight for Europe: giants are back!

Inter 1 Cagliari 0 (Burdisso)
Empoli 1 AS Roma 0 (Pozzi)
Siena 3 AC Milan 4 (Ronaldo 0-1, Vergassola 1-1, Oliveira 1-2, Maccarone 2-2, Ronaldo 2-3, Maccarone 3-3, Ambrosini 3-4)


Burdisso, this is best year at Inter for Argentina defender

This is the last week without night matches, so teams that will play Champions League next Tuesda and Wednesday played all in advance this afternoon. With its 1-0 win to Cagliari (header of Burdisso after 12'), Inter broke all records with its 16th consecutive win in Serie A, and extended its lead to 14 points on AS Roma. A double face match, this afternoon: a good first half, with Luis Figo teaching football and Ibra 'big foot' giving a ball to Burdisso that the Argentinean defendere just needed to be pushed into Cagliari's goal. Second half wasn't really unforgettable, Inter thought too much about Valencia, and just kept the match under control. Cagliari went close to equalize just once, on the other side Stankovic hit the crossbar. So, now let's think about Valencia: it's a pity that an absurd decision kept people out of San Siro, except the holding season tickets ones.

It could have been a quiet Saturday, but forward Nicola Pozzi of Empoli gave with his beautiful goal a big help to Inter. The 1-0 win of Empoli is the biggest surprise of the day, in an empty stadium (the game was played behind closed doors). This is the real difference between the Nerazzurri and their opponents: Inter can start -and win- without Materazzi, Javier Zanetti, Vieira, Maxwell, Maicon, Adriano. AS Roma today field a formation without Chivu, Mexes, Taddei and Mancini: the Romans were unlucky, hit two goal posts but at the end they lost. Now Tuscans -we already talked about them here- are speeding along to Champions League qualifying. AS Roma just needs to forget about the defeat and think of Champions League and Lyon.

Just two points below Empoli we find AC Milan. The Rossoneri got 3 important points in Siena, and Ronaldo scored twice: the 1-0 goal with a header -not exactly his speciality- and Milan third goal after a slalom of Kakà, when he could just score from 3 metres. Surely Ancelotti had a good Ronaldo, we're not sure the Brazilian was of no use to Real and coach Capello. The problem, for AC Milan, is that he cannot play in Champions League, and for Glasgow also Gilardino probably won't be available. Be sure that it won't be easy at Celtic Park next Wednesday, but Milan has been the best Italian team in Europe during these years. A very good afternoon also for Siena forward Maccarone: Big Mac, back from England, scored twice but he couldn't avoid Siena's defeat.

Serie A Table:
Inter 63, AS Roma 49, Palermo 42, Empoli 35, AC Milan (-8) 33, Lazio (-3) 31, Catania 31, Atalanta 29, Udinese 29, Sampdoria 27, Fiorentina (-15) 25, Siena (-1) 25, Cagliari 23, Livorno 23, Torino 22, Reggina (-11) 19, Chievo 18, Messina 17, Parma 15, Ascoli 12.

Inter, Roma, Empoli, Milan, Siena, Palermo, Catania played 23 matches, all the others 22.

Inter the strongest, Catania the nice surprise, AS Roma the team playing best football, AC Milan the most unsatisfying. These are the results of a survey by a press agency that asked to almost all Serie A coaches their opinion on some questions about 2006.

In particular, they were asked to point out:
1) The strongest team, the nice and the bad surprise.
2) Which team played best football?
3) Players in the spotlight
4) In which percentage “Calciopoli” influenced this season?
5) Will new referees’ inexperience influence this season?

According to most of them Inter Milan is the strongest team, except five coaches that pointed out AS Roma, including Inter coach Roberto Mancini. Catania is a newcomer, but the Sicilians are now fighting for a Champions League spot and they still have to play the match vs Empoli, postponed for bad ground conditions. That’s why the majority of coaches consider Catania the team that did good beyond expectation.

On the contrary, AC Milan is the team that did worse than reasonable expectations, though Ancelotti didn’t give an answer to that (he knows AC Milan had a very bad first half, but everybody there is already in low spirits and he doesn’t want to make things worse). AC Parma’s Pioli honestly says his team was very bad. For almost all coaches AS Roma is the team showing best football (but Mancini says Lazio), while according to them there are two players in the spotlight: Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) and elder forward Riganò, Messina.

Except for Mancini and Guidolin (Palermo), who don’t answer, Calciopoli scandal is influencing the season for more than 50%, especially because of Juventus’ absence and other teams’ penalization. Only one coach, Arrigoni (Livorno), says it was a real catastrophe just because fans are loosing their faith in football.

At the end, according to the totality of managers, referee’s inexperience won’t influence the season: maybe they can make mistakes, but they won’t privilege anybody in particular.
Please forgive us for all this little talk about nothing, but Serie A will restart only on January 13th! ;)

PS I wish a great 2007 to all Olè Olè guys!

Porto vs Chelsea FC
Mourinho is back. But Porto coach Jesualdo says “there’s nothing special in this. They are two times English Champions, one of the best teams in the world, I’m satisfied”

Celtic vs AC Milan
“We’ve been lucky –says AC Milan executive, Umberto Gandini- though Scottish team has tradition, and is very strong, it’s good to avoid Spanish clubs. It’s always exciting to play in a British stadium”. According to Celtic FC website, “Gordon Strachan’s men will face the Italian giants”

Lilla vs Manchester Utd.
French underdogs managing director, Jerome Lestir: “I know very well Manchester executives, we used to work together. I don’t know players so much, but I think it will be a great match and our purpose is always to go through last eight”.

AS Roma vs Olympique Lyon
AS Roma player Daniele De Rossi: “I know very well Juninho Pernambucano, Carew (ex AS Roma), Malouda and Abidal. At this stage, I had no preference. We’ll see how far can we go, facing a tough team such as Lyon” Bernard Lacombe, representing OL: “They may suffer in a long competition but they’re very dangerous in a single event. Houllier knows them very well, as he played against them with Liverpool. We can take the advantage of the second match at Gerlande, and I think we will score in Rome”

Barcellona vs Liverpool
Winner 2006 vs winner 2005. Joan Laporta, Barcelona Chairman: “The truth is that Liverpool is one of my favourite opponents. Though second match will be at Anfield Road, we’re the title holders, so other teams have to fear us”. Rafa Benitez, Liverpool coach: “It is a difficult draw for us but we have two months to prepare for these games and we have nothing to lose. At the moment they are playing in Japan in the World Club Championships and everybody is saying really good things about them”

Real Madrid vs Bayern Monaco
Twelve Champions Cups in the aggregate. Predrag Mijatovic, Madrid’s general manager: “Bayern is a great team, but we can beat it. All matches in last sixteen are complicated, but I think all Spanish teams have good chances”.

Inter Milan vs Valencia
According to Inter CEO Ernesto Paolillo, also Nerazzurri have good chances. “We’ll face a strong attack, but we have a very good coach and a fantastic squad. We don’t want to repeat the Villareal defeat”. Italian Amedeo Carboni, team manager at Valencia: “Inter has players used to play competitions like Champions League, but I think they also are not happy about this draw.”

PSV Eindhoven-Arsenal
Arsene Wenger: "“The draw is not kind, not unkind. PSV have experience of this level. They dominate Dutch football and every year now they are in the last 16, Quarter-Final, Semi-Final even of the Champions League against Milan. So it is a tough draw".

All draws are full of danger, but I think that tomorrow one is the worst. The issue is that games will be played after two months, the teams that are in good shape in December might be weaker in February. On the contrary, the easiest team to face now could become a hard nut to crack.

For example, AC Milan. The Rossoneri fell behind to the 15th place in Serie A, Dida is injured and who knows when he will be back, the defenders are old and no one can take Sheva’s place in the centre of the attack. No one could give Milan a chance to win, all runners-up would like to find it in the drop box. But…who knows how will it be in the next two months? It’s not only good luck if Berlusconi’s team has won 6 Champions Leagues in its history. Nobody in Milanello issues a statement about the draw, but we guess they’d like to avoid Real and Barcelona.

By the way, it seems that Inter’s Coach Mancini preferred to finish at second place in his Group just to avoid the Azulgrana that were behind Chelsea in Group A. That’s why Inter had six big players on the bench in Munich. Mancini is so afraid of Barcelona, that he doesn’t matter if probably his team will face one of the greatest English teams: Chelsea, Man UTD, Arsenal or Liverpol. Or Lyon, the most impressive team of the Group Stage. Of course, as clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other, as well as winners and runners-up of the same group, another solution is Valencia. Which fell behind in Spanish Liga standings but, as I told before, who knows in February? Last year Inter was sent-off by Spanish underdog Villareal…
For sure, most of Group winners would like to avoid Inter itself.

AS Roma, at the end. Francesco Totti says he prefers Manchester, not because he considers the Red Devils the easiest challenge: he just dreams of playing at Old Trafford. Giallorossi did not loose their faith in a Serie A victory, even after the debacle in the derby. Anyway, for Spalletti’s team this is the first time in final 16 round, neither Capello was able to go through. Draw for the Romans have a lot of hidden dangers, they won’t draw Valencia ad AC Milan, but probably they will encounter an English team, or Bayern Munich or, again, Olympique Lyon.

Well, this is the situation of the Italian teams the day before the draw. We don’t have to wait too much, we’ll know everything tomorrow, at about 2pm.