The Milan Derby

The Milan derby, il derby della madonnina, ended in a 2-1 victory for Inter Milan. The derby was a spectacular match and it showed that Italian football is not boring, Inter constantly had Maicon powering up the right wing providing crosses and scoring opportunities while The Emperor Adriano was in Splendid form showing Maldini, on his last derby, that it really should be his last as he sped past him and missed the opportunity with a stunning Abbiati protecting AC Milans net from further damage. With the line up being for AC Milan, Abbiati in net, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Maldini, and Zambrotta in defense from left to right, while in the midfield they had Ambrosini, Seedorf, Beckham, and Pirlo, and up front they had Pato supported by Ronaldinho. Inter came out with its usual 4-3-1-2 formation with Julio Cesar in goal, with Santon, Chivu, Samuel, and Maicon defending, then they had Muntari, Cambiasso, and Javier Zanetti, while Stankovic supported Adriano, and Ibrahimovic. With two sides like these you could tell that it was going to be a great match, but one key element for AC Milan was missing, Kaka. Kaka was out for injury and this let Ronaldinho start but it left Milan without many attacking options.

While the derby started off pretty equally Inter was playing much more offensively and they were creating more opportunities and as Jankulovski continuosly rose up the field to attack he left Maicon, the beast, too much space and Maicon dribbled up the wing, crossed the ball in, and Adriano with Maldini nowhere near him was able to head the ball which then hits his shoulder and goes in at the 29th minute. The ref didn't see the handball or he concluded it was involuntary and therefore Inter rose up to 1-0 over AC Milan. But Inter wasn't happy with one goal and so with a wonderful flick of the head from Ibrahimovic who sets the ball up for Stankovic, Stankovic blasts the ball in the net, showing Inter's supremacy over AC Milan. It was 2-0 at halftime. as inter continued to create scoring opportunities that they threw away AC Milan started to play better when Beckham having played a fairly undertone game went off for Inzaghi. When this happened Ronaldinho had more space and started to dribble past opponents and he eventually created the beautiful play that led to Pato's goal in the 71st minute. After this Inter started to cool down and played its usual waiting game while AC Milan tried to get the much needed equalizer. Inzaghi had many scoring opportunities and even scored a beautiful half volley but he was almost always offside and so the goal didn't count. With Julio Cesar making some AMAZING last minute saves that have convinced me that right now he is the best goalie in the world, he keeps Inter in the game and lets Mourinho gloat and Maldini cry.


Match details

29' GOAL!!! Adriano scores for Inter Milan
43' GOAL!!! Dejan Stankovic scores for Inter Milan
44' Ambrosini gets a yellow card-AC Milan
HALF TIME
47' Samuel gets a yellow card-Inter Milan
57' Beckham goes off for Inzaghi-AC Milan
70' Esteban Cambiasso gets a yellow cared for Inter Milan
71' GOAL!!! Alexandre Pato puts one in the back of the net for AC Milan
77' Kaladze for AC Milan goes off and Senderos comes on
80' Inter Milan's Adriano goes off for Viera and Stankovic goes off for Burdisso in the 84'
85' Burdisso and Vieira receive a yellow card for Inter Milan
88' Inter Milan's Muntari goes off for Maxwell
90' Julio Cesar receives a yellow card for Inter Milan

Final Score 2-1 for Inter Milan

Barcelona's stumble

Barcelona seemed like the unbeatable team throughout La Liga, they are at 60 points, 13 above Real Madrid, (which could become 10 points if Real Madrid win their match against Sporting Gijon) Barcelona has 19 wins 3 draws and only 1 loss out of 23 games, probably one of the worlds greatest runs so far. They have scored 70 goals and conceding only 18 goals, Barcelona have dominated La Liga so far and now they draw with Real Betis? The final score being 2-2, Real Betis had a running start scoring 2 goals one in the 18th minute by Melli and another one in the 25th minute by Mark Gonzalez, after around 15 minutes the sleeping giant Barcelona wakes up and in the 44th minute Eto'o scores on a penalty kick that was at first saved but then Eto'o blasted the ball in after the keeper couldn't catch it. After the halftime break Barcelona continue looking for a goal and finally find it in the 81st minute, another one by Eto'o. But would Barcelona have tied the game up if it weren't for the penalty kick? And although this game looks like just a small stumble by Barcelona they should be careful to not fall down and let Real Madrid surpass them and snatch the title.

Match Details
10' Juanito off for Lima-Real Betis
18' GOAL!!! Melli scores for Real Betis
25' GOAL!!! Mark Gonzalez scores for Real Betis
35' Gerrard Pique gets a yellow card-Barcelona
44' GOAL!!! Eto'o scores for Barcelona PK
45' Lima off for Monzon-Real Betis
57' Seydou Keita and Hleb go off for L. Messi and T. Henry-Barcelona
59' Mark Gonzalez off for Juanma-Real Betis
77' Yellow card for S. Busquets-Barcelona
81' GOAL!!! Eto'o scores for Barcelona
81' S. Busquets off for Bojan-Barcelona
83' Juanma gets a yellow card-Real Betis
90' R. Oliveira gets a yellow card-Real Betis

The Milan derby

With the Milan derby coming up (Inter Milan vs. AC Milan) both managers have something to prove, Mourinho has to show that he can take a team like AC Milan, while Ancelotti needs to try and close the gap between his Milan and the powerhouse Inter that is slowly slipping away through Milans fingers. And while Inter look like the favorites for this match, AC Milan has won the last two derby's. Other notable Serie A matches are,

Genoa-Fiorentina, the two teams racing for fourth while Roma is trying to climb back up, Fiorentina got the champions league spot last year and maybe Genoa could snatch a win to surpass Fiorentina. I predict a 2-1 win for Genoa because of their great performances recently. (winning against Juventus 3-2)

Juventus-Sampdoria, although Sampdoria may not be doing very well this season, and Juventus are in second for the Scudetto it is still a feisty match for Juventus and this could be a very big chance for Juventus to create a gap between them and AC Milan and to try and narrow the gap between them and Inter Milan. I predict a win for Juventus 2-1 because they do seem like the superior team.

Scolari's Sacking

Chelsea's head coach Scolari was sacked recently and now that Guus Hiddink has replaced him temporarily it is very possible that Chelsea might try and get Jose Mourinho back from Inter Milan over the summer.

International Friendlies

There were International soccer friendlies recently and the scores for the more enticing ones are

Spain winning against England 2-0

Brazil winning against Italy 2-0

France losing against Argentina 2-0


These wins not only show that England maybe isn't on the way to winning the world cup. Italy losing against the powerhouse Brazil only shows that maybe the italian team is stuck on the past. (cough, Lippi, cough) France losing against Argentina seemed quite predictable mainly because of Lionel Messi's current level of playing.