ROME - Serie A side Catania has come up with a creative way to score from a free kick: block the goalkeeper's vision by having players drop their shorts down in a wall.

The Sicilian team carried out the manoeuvre to perfection when Giuseppe Mascara scored in Sunday's 3-2 win over Torino.

Three Catania players dropped their shorts down near their knees so Torino goalkeeper Matteo Sereni couldn't see Mascara's kick.

"This is a strategy that (Catania coach Walter) Zenga tries continually in training," the club's chief executive Pietro Lo Monaco told RAI state radio Monday.

Former referees co-ordinator Paolo Casarin called the move "unsportsmanlike and in bad taste.

"It's a trick that should not be tolerated anymore by the referees," Casarin said.

Lo Monaco responded, "A trick? I wouldn't say so. It's up to the referee to decide if it should be penalized, otherwise I don't see where the problem is....Good taste is relative."

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Perhaps I'm in a dumb mood today. is that serious?

Blog: Natural order
Fans saw Inter, Milan and Juventus claim the top three spots at the weekend. James Horncastle looks at the restoration of normality in Serie A
A cursory glance at the Serie A standings will reveal that the natural order of things has returned. Inter, Milan and Juventus make up the top three for the first time in several years. After a couple of seasons of forced relegations, points deductions and Moggi-less shenanigans it appears that the Italian League is finally back to normal and healthier than ever.

One could argue that the 2008-09 championship is the most entertaining in recent memory. The goals may not be flying in – there have only been 276, the lowest number in history – but the quality of football is undoubtedly higher, as is the level of competition between the teams that make up the League.

Just look at the number of points between first and eighth place. Genoa are just seven points adrift of Inter. If we use this as a barometer of how strong a League’s title race is, Serie A fares well against its rivals. Eight, 10, 13 and 14 points separate first from eighth place in Germany, France, Spain and England respectively.

To take the Premier League as a case in point, Chelsea are already eight points ahead of third placed Manchester United, albeit having played a game more.

I think it’s heartening to know that so many teams – not just the usual suspects – have a chance of winning the Scudetto this season. Milan, for one, have lent Serie A credibility by prioritising the championship for the first time in four years.

Gone is the disillusion of the late `90s and early `00s that convinced so many fans to stay away from the stadium. Attendances are on the rise for the third straight year thanks to a good summer in the transfer market, when Italian clubs were only outspent by their English counterparts.

The average gate at a Serie A match is now 24,470, which may pale in comparison with those of a decade ago, but Milan are welcoming around 66,421 spectators to San Siro every weekend and Inter 45,784.

Nor is Italy the sick man of Europe, as every Sky pundit would have you believe. Juventus top Champions League Group H after convincing wins against Spanish champions Real Madrid. The Bianconeri are the first team to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Inter lead the way in Group B while Roma are set to advance from Group A after beating last season’s Champions League runners up and current Premier League leaders Chelsea.

So, I think it is fair to say that Italian football is a renewed rather than spent force and deserves a little more respect from those quick to judge.

I Know A Lot About Napoli - Messi
Barcelona star Lionel Messi said he knows a lot about Napoli, a club where many legendary Argentinean players have plied their trade in the past.

There is no doubt that there's always been a special feeling between Napoli and Argentinean players. In the 1960s it was Omar Sivori who was their main man, then it was the incomparable Diego Maradona in the 1980s, and these days it's Ezequiel Lavezzi who's dazzling the San Paolo stadium.

The current forbidden dream for Napoli is Barcelona star and heir to Maradona's throne Lionel Messi, who may seem unobtainable for the Azzurri, but the 21-year-old told Sky Sport 24 he knows a lot about what happens at the foot of the Vesuvius, giving the Napoli faithful some hope.

"I have an excellent relationship with all the Argentinean players who play in Italy, and I often talk with Lavezzi and [German] Denis of Napoli," he said. "'El Pocho' talked to me about the warmth of the Napoli crowd, he told me they really admire me and that it's great to have them at your side."

These words by the Blaugrana's wizard will no doubt set the Napoli faithful's heart racing, although in today's football a move like the one Maradona made, from Barça to Napoli, whom he led to their two only league titles in 1987 and 1990, is increasingly unlikely.

This we know!
The fact that they're stingy with tv right hasn't helped you're opinion of them either.