It happens that a team wins 13 consecutive matches breaking all records, and leads a league with 11 points advantage, and this team is Inter Milan. It also happens that main Italian bookmaker, SNAI, decides to suspend bets on Inter due to its evident superiority. Matchpoint, another bookmaker, keeps Inter quote, but it has been lowered to 1,01, meaning that if I bet 100 Euros, I win just a one euro coin.

Inter numbers are impressive: 54 points in 20 matches, best attack and best defence. Though we think that such a result should be underlined and maybe celebrated, we understand that when you are too strong and kill the competition, a lot of people might hate you. Anyway, this doesn’t justify some “whispering campaign” against Inter, lead by journalists we like to define “Moggi’s widows”. You've got to know that sport journalists are one of the categories whose image have been destroyed by Calciopoli. Last summer we could listen to wiretaps with some of main sport journalists asking Moggi and Co. what they should have written or said. Well, they are still in their place, just a couple of them were suspended by the Association of journalists for a short period. And they still are good friend of Moggi.

Last Sunday Inter won at home vs. Fiorentina. The Viola scored after 5’ with Luca Toni, and that was the only shot on goal they did in the whole match. In five minutes (19’ to 24’), two goals by Stankovic and Adriano put Inter back in control. In the second half, Inter slowed down the rhythm of the game and scored with Ibrahimovic, whose goal has been disputed by the Florentines, who stated that the ball was not completely in goal. Viola coach Prandelli and sport director Corvino after the match said none of Inter goals, especially the last one, was valid. Immediately Moggi’s widows put some poison into Inter’s win, assuming what Prandelli and Corvino said, without considering that the referee denied a couple of penalties to Inter.

In general, media like Turin newspaper Tuttosport (who is leading this campaign) and TV program Controcampo, would like to show that always the leading team has favours, and the same happened to Juventus or AC Milan during last years. And they would like also to let us know that the doubts we had in the past about Calciopoli are the same they have now. "If everybody is guity, no one is guilty", is their slogan. The problem is that they forget –or pretend to- all the stuff that came out in May 2006. A player gets a yellow card and won’t play against Inter the following weeks as he will be disqualified? Inter is doing something wrong as Juventus did, they say. But in one case we know about phone calls between Moggi and the referees chiefs, where Moggi asked to give some players a yellow or red card, now it is different.

Let’s just put an eye on some statistics of current season until now, they are self-explanatory:

Inter: 51 yellow cards, 4 red cards, penalty kicks: 3 in favour, 4 against
AS Roma: 45 yc, 1 rc, penalty kicks: 5-5
AC Milan: 37 yc, 1 rc, penalty kicks: 3-2
Palermo: 51 yc, 4 rc, penalty kicks: 5-1
Fiorentina: 47 yc, 2 rc, penalty kicks: 1-0

And here you have Ibrahimovic's 3-1 goal

Second half of Serie A starts this weekend, and everybody is waiting for an Inter false step. This championship is a sort of dictatorship. This time is Fiorentina trying to trip the Nerazzurri at San Siro, and it would be a revenge of the match played in September when Inter won 3-2 with Cambiasso’s and Toni’s doubles and the goal of Ibrahimovic. Mutu and Ujfalusi are disqualified but Mancini is distrustful and says Toni can support by himself the attack of the Viola. Inter will have Adriano-Ibra as forwards, Crespo still a little bit out of form and will seat on the bench. Last time in San Siro, on September 2005 for day 5, Inter won 1-0. It could be Inter’s thirteenth consecutive win: here in Italy, 13 is a lucky number, not like in Anglo-Saxon countries.

Roma travels to Livorno and it won’t be easy: Spalletti has to think up a new midfield, as De Rossi, Pizarro and Cassetti won’t play. The Tuscanian coach is thinking of Chivu as midfielder, let’s see. Livorno away is a hard nut to crack, especially after what happened this week: the heavy defeat in Bergamo (1-5), the president who sacks coach Arrigoni and players’ riot that makes Spinelli change his mind (we already talked about this, here). It’s obvious today the Amaranto of Livorno will do all their best to prove Spinelli’s decision was wrong.

The Sunday night game is at Stadio Olimpico in Roma, where Lazio and Milan will play for a place in UCL qualifying rounds (ok, maybe it’s too early, but we think this could be the duel for forth place). Here main issue is the decision taken by Lazio technical staff not to put Massimo Oddo in the players’ list for the match. The reason is: AC Milan probably will sign him already in January, so Lazio coach Rossi doesn’t want him to play against his next club. It’s absurd because it sounds like questioning his professionalism, especially foe the captain, meaning that he is respected by the club more than any other player. “Oddo won’t play because he asked to go away, not because is dealing with Milan” Delio Rossi says. Should we believe? He already asked to go away, even before other matches, but he always played.

Here you have the complete list of today’s matches (3PM CET), in brackets the first round result:
Inter-Fiorentina (3-2), Livorno-Roma (0-2), Catania-Cagliari (1-0), Siena-Chievo (2-1), Udinese-Messina (0-1), Empoli-Sampdoria (2-1), Parma-Torino (1-1). This evening (8.30PM CET) Lazio-Milan (1-2). On Saturday, Atalanta won away at Ascoli (3-1), draw without goals between Reggina and Palermo.

Italian football never stops suffering: a new scandal has come out, this time referred to some clubs’ wrong balance sheets. The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan, Turin, Genoa and Rome are investigating the legal representatives of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Juventus, Lazio and many other teams of any professional football leagues.
The main reason is the overrating of some players, after that Berlusconi government voted a law (later on considered illegal by EU) authorizing football clubs to spread debts over many years. What happened? The clubs –i.e. Inter and AC Milan- exchanged some young players, giving them a higher rate than they had according to the market, in order to put incomes for their sale in current balance-sheet and spread the expense for the purchase over many years. In this way, the profit and loss account of the company was better than it should. But not only players were overrated. Another example? Juventus Turin sold his headquarter with a 15 million Euros income to a real estate agency on June 30th 2005 (last day of the football season) and then the day after (in the following season) rented it.

So, though the worst situation in terms of criminal law is for Juventus, AS Roma and Lazio, as they are quoted in Italian Sock Exchange, according to Sport Justice Code (more interesting to football fans) Inter Milan is really in trouble. The reason is that without that malpractice Inter could not join in Serie A 2004-05. Art. 7 no. 3 of the Sport Code says: “The club that, by means of accounting irregularities, tries to or succeed in joining a championship to which it could not be admitted according to federal law at the moment of the fact, is punished with one of the sanctions established by art. 13, letters f), g), h) and i). So, if Inter made those accounting irregularities (at the moment there’s only the request of Public Prosecutor in Milan), and if without those irregularities Inter –as it seems- could not join Serie A in 2004-05, it risks one of these sanctions: one or more points of penalization, demotion to last place of the ranking, ban from its championship (Federal direction to assign a lower championship), and revoke of the Italian Championship title.

Though risk is high (for the club and even more for Massimo Moratti who has signed the balance sheet), and though, on the sport law side, prosecutor Borrelli says that last summer his office already investigated on it and will go on, Moratti and Inter seem to be serene, and so are Galliani and other clubs’ executives. Maybe they’re right, if we consider that Mattia Grassani, a lawyer and maximum expert in sport right, says that “in my opinion limitation has expired. This issue might be controversial, but documents has been presented in 2003-04, so the hypothetical crime cannot be prosecuted”. Just for your information, sport laws say that an irregularity involving clubs can be prosecuted within the end of the second season after the one in which the irregularity has been done. So, Inter Milan submitted the documents in 2003-04, while those documents had been used to join Serie A in 2004-05. If 2003-04 is the season, Inter is safe, in the second case there will be for sure a trial.

Whatever happens, it’s another chapter of Italian football’s “Black book”, and we cannot see how could it be better in the future if there’s always indulgence and no one will be appointed in order to write new and more rigid rules. And we cannot accept the thought that in Italy everything works this way, sport has to be a field in which probity is main valour. We see dark clouds over Italian sky, if this won’t happen, especially if we consider that next choices of Football Association executives will probably done in the name of Restoration (Matarrese was FIGC chairman in 1987 and he’s one of the main candidates after commissioner Pancalli will leave).

Maybe Ronaldo will stay in Madrid, but in the last two days everybody speaks of his possible arrival at AC Milan. Today we've asked to some of the most famous bloggers, well known as Inter (former Ronaldo club) fans, their opinion on that.

Pietro is ironic: “IMHO, Ronaldo at AC Milan is a BIG problem, but only for the club in via Turati, as they will have to enlarge the doors at the training centre in Milanello. There, everything is custom-made. For Smoje or Steinar Nielsen, I mean. Milanello is good for Ronaldinho, Fernandinho or Fernanda Lessa, that’s why they signed Vieri. But Ronaldo no, he’s too large. After that, Galliani and Braida are enlarging all Milan Lab machines, especially after space insemination done by Borriello, pointed out by Catholic Church and the Vatican.
As Inter fans, we must be happy about this transfer, we love good playing and we’ll see a fantastic team with very fast strikers, assisted by Kaka’s class. Potentially the same great team we saw in Autumn 2006, hilarious and amusing. It’s clear that AC Milan and Inter Milan balance sheets have been artificially fed with fake revenue, but still weight less than Ronaldo. So, I wouldn’t worry too much, unless they get crazy and spend a lot of money, Berlusconi will put his normal line-up, made by desperate thirty-year-old men.

Satirical website Interistiorg owners just ask themselves: “Fatso at AC Milan: a question of hours. Where the hell are terrorists when we need them?”

Cavaliere is an old fan of the Brazilian star: “I think it could be a very good deal for AC Milan, it would make club’s technical rate better and also its possibility to score. Of course, Ronie would improve any team in the world, especially if he trains with method. I am an Inter fan but also a Ronaldo fan, so I have to say –unfortunately- that if I’ll watch him with our rival it will make me sad”

Iruben is distrustful: “As Inter fan I think that Ronaldo at AC Milan won't be interesting news. Inter is going so well that Ronaldo is just a far far far memory. AC Milan is going so bad that they need another striker. Unfortunately (for the rossoneri) big young names won't come to Serie A. Meanwhile Ronaldo (for what I read on newspapers) would like leaving Madrid. If the Brazilian is back to Milan (the town) I'll be just curious to check if he's ready to play (will he need to be trained?), especially when you think about the strong Italian defenders. It won't be easy, anyway.”

Last but not least, writer and blogstar Rudi has presented again an old post he wrote when Ronaldo was supposed to play for Inter in 1997. He had a lot of trouble sleeping because of some Inter’s defeats, that neither the Juve failure in Champions League final vs. Dortmund could heal. Then, Rudi says “Some days later, while cruising, in a flash I saw something with the corner of the eye that was like an electric shock to me. I turned back until the newsstand where there was a poster with a newspaper’s headlines. The dimension of the letters reduced the headline to a couple of words: Moratti and Ronaldo. Suddenly, the black and blue colour came back like nothing, full of a bright perspective: the arrival of a Brazilian star calle "The Phenomenon", with his way of laughing after scoring a goal, other newcomers with exotic names, a new coach born in Bologna province, AC Milan not qualifying for next year’s European Cups. Moratti and Ronaldo. I have to tell this to Katia. She has to know it’s not the end, it never ended: this is the simple, precarious truth of football. With incurable hope, now I know the worst passed and everything begins again.”

Livorno is one of the emerging teams in last years. The old club of the dock-city of Tirreno sea, after its best period in the 30s and 40s of last century (they lost a Scudetto just for one point in 1943), after decades of ruins, third and fourth division championships and a couple of bankruptcies, were back to Serie A in 2004 as a final result of the club’s purchase by Aldo Spinelli.

The former Genoa president is a competent and passionate of football, as he brought the Rossoblu to an historical fourth place, the best result after their 9 titles from1898 and 1925. It’s no accident that Genoa fell down after he left Ligurian capital, and Livorno rose from hell and came to Paradise. But Spinelli is one of those presidents that not even one coach would like to meet in his life: he likes to change, for example last year he fired Donadoni, now National team coach, while Livorno was qualifying to UEFA Cup. The same he did yesterday, sacking Arrigoni live on TV, telling to interviewers that “I have never been ashamed like today, I asked the coach to take the team to a training camp and he didn’t”. It’s not the first time that Spinelli talks dirty to his coach. He said before Livorno-Fiorentina last September saying that Arrigoni’s line-up was frightening. For your information, Livorno won 1-0. And,always for your information, Livorno is in the middle of the rankings, and doesn't risk relegation.

The news is that some players don’t like Spinelli’s decision, and it really looks like a riot. Captain Lucarelli, a legend in Livorno, said yesterday “I hope he will change his mind and this is only a vent. Otherwise, maybe there will be news also about me!”. And January is the transfer window month…
Marco Amelia, the third Italian goalie at the World Cup, is even harder than his team-mate: “Spinelli told us he’d like to resign, let’s hope he has the courage to do it”. And while Arrigoni seems to be happy for players’ solidarity, according to rumors Spinelli thinks about hiring Vincenzo Torrente, a long time employee of his as a player in Genoa, now coach of Rossoblu “Primavera” team (under 20). Let’s wait and see.

After twelve consecutive wins, Inter Milan completed first half of the season with 16 wins, 3 draws and no defeats. Now, a radio program (Catersport) put a price on Inter’s head called “Batti i Bauscia” (beat the Bauscia, one of Inter’s nicknames). The good thing is that prizes for the first team defeating the Nerazzurri will be gifted by radio listeners. At the moment the jackpot is: 11 python sandals, 11 bottles of wine (Barbera d’Asti), 13 shiatsu massage cures, 11 salamis with pistachio, 11 kg pignolata (a Sicilian dessert), 30 lithographs and one painting. This is the second edition, after last year’s “Batti la Gobba” (beat the “Gobba”), won by AC Milan players after they beat Juventus, “la Gobba” for its enemies.

UPDATE! TODAY, AFTER PLAYERS' RIOT, PRESIDENT SPINELLI DECIDED TO REINTEGRATE COACH ARRIGONI

Well, the average level of the Italian league fell-in after its enlargement to 20 teams, then some top teams have been penalized and cannot fight for final win, but Inter’s record is something really difficult to make.

The first winning match was the 4-1 vs. Livorno, but the 4-3 win in the derby last October was the sparkle that started this long strip that is still open but since yesterday, after the 3-1 vs Torino, is the longest all time in Serie A. The match at “Stadio Olimpico” in Turin was not easy in the forecast, you never know what may happen after Christmas holidays –in fact in Serie B Juventus lost away at Mantova-, and Torino was in a good shape and could make some problems to Javier Zanetti & c.

The problem for other teams is that Inter has physical, technical and strategic supremacy over any rival it ever had in this season, at least in National championship.Yesterday in Turin, Adriano scored first goal, a header after a perfect cross by Maicon, an underrated player that, as a friend of mine -a journalist- says, in another context would have already been named “the new Cafù”.

First half finished with other three chances for Inter, again a header by Adriano and a shot of the Brazilian striker finished out, then a far shoot by Vieira saved by Torino goalie, Abbiati. In second half, Torino never gave the feeling of being a danger the Nerazzurri, but at 58’ Fiore tried to serve Stellone but the ball touched the famous Materazzi’s chest, beating Julio Cesar: 1-1.

Well, great teams come out in difficult times. Do you know how many time passed for Inter to score its 2-1 goal? Thirteen (13) seconds after the kick-off! And Ibrahimovic’s goal is one of the best in the season, the Swedish was so good in keeping the ball not too high and its angle shot finished into the far corner. Torino was never able to come close to the draw, and at the end Vieira served Adriano with a beautiful chip pass and Abbiati committed a foul on Adriano that was going to goal: red card to Torino goalie, Materazzi scores from 11 metres, it’s the final 3-1 goal.

Now, after AS Roma’s draw in Messina (1-1), Inter Milan has a 9 pts advantage at the end of the first half.

You can see here the highlights of the match, please click here and then click on “highlights” on top at the right.

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".

After the “Calciopoli” scandal, that sent Juventus to “Serie B” and gave an 8 point penalty to AC Milan, everybody claimed Inter Milan would be the team to win the Italian League. The overall opinion is that only AS Roma of World Champions Totti, De Rossi and Perrotta can cause problems to the “nerazzurri”, while all other teams will fight for third place.

On the contrary, after day 12 Inter is on the top with 9 wins and 3 draws, but on the second step of the podium we don’t find the Romans, but the “pink & black” jerseys of Palermo, just 3 points below Mancini’s team. Obviously “Renzo Barbera” Stadium is sold out for Palermo-Inter, the main game of day 13 scheduled for tomorrow, November 26th at 3pm (GMT +1): 850.000 Euros at the box office, a record for Palermo! Everybody is crazy, and the 37,000 seats capacity of the stadium won’t be enough to satisfy the huge amount of requests from the whole Sicily, and the rest of Southern Italy. No problem, it will be possible to follow the match live in two different pay TV Stations (Sky and Mediaset) and a couple of Web TVs.

Inter went through the “Final 16” of the Champions League last Wednesday, after winning a home match against Sporting Lisbon, while Palermo has been heavily defeated by Fenerbache, in a UEFA Cup match where its main players took a rest. Missing tomorrows match because of a "red card", just midfielder Fabio Simplicio played in Istanbul. Chairman Zamparini gave the media a very optimistic forecast: "Palermo will win 4-1" he said. On the other side, World Champion Fabio Grosso keeps a good memory of the two years spent in Sicily, but now he wants to win at Inter. By the way, the Milanese team, after being assigned the "Scudetto" by the Italian FA last July because of the relegation of Juventus, has quickly become the most hated one in the country, replacing the "black and white" of Turin. That's why everybody but the Inter fans root for Palermo tomorrow. Especially people around Juventus - like Del Piero - hope that finally the Sicilians will win the championship. Coach Guidolin says "thanks", but we bet he is not thinking of the “scudetto”, focusing just on the match vs. Inter. Will David defeat Goliath tomorrow? Let’s wait and see…