The bottom line is that we must win against Inter, and grab all the points out of the "easy" fixtures. We'll be 4th IMO.

Here are Fiorentina's next few fixtures:

19/03 v Napoli (A)
22/03 v Lazio (H)
30/03 v Udinese (A)
06/04 v Reggina (H)
13/04 v Internazionale (A)
Here are Milan's:

19/03 v Sampdoria (H)
22/03 v Torino (A)
30/03 v Atalanta (H)
06/04 v Cagliari (H)
13/04 v Juventus (A)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic statement



Sunday, 16 March 2008 20:50:16

MILAN - "When I came off the pitch I was expressing my disappointment over the substitution and the missed chances. I never said anything disrespectful against the coach." With this statement, Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic repudiates the words attributed to him by presumed lip reading evidence when substituted in the final minutes of Inter's match against Palermo.

INTER.IT

yep i herd that too

he`s gone fore sure, even before this.

Calcio Debate: Fabiano Santacroce – The ‘New Alessandro Nesta’?

Napoli’s young centre back Fabiano Santacroce has been an absolute revelation since signing for the club from Brescia in January. Carlo Garganese believes we may be witnessing the birth of the next Italian defensive superstar…

It is universally accepted that the greatest country in the world when it comes to producing defenders is Italy. Seemingly every year since records began the Azzurri have boasted an abundance of absolutely outstanding stoppers. 

In the 60s and 70s there were greats like Giacinto Facchetti, Tarciso Burgnich and Armando Picchi, in the 80s and 90s there was Gateano Scirea, Claudio Gentile, Giuseppe Bergomi and Franco Baresi, to name just a few, while in the past decade Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, and of course Paolo Maldini have been the standard-bearers. 

There were a few worrying signs that this production line was starting to dry up, specifically in the centre back position. The Azzurri’s current first-choice backline consists of Gianluca Zambrotta (31), Massimo Oddo (31) and Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi, who both turn 35 this year. 

Beneath these veterans there are the likes of Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, who certainly have every chance of becoming excellent international defenders. However it is debatable whether either of these players are going to be outstanding enough to be spoken about in the same breath as the likes of some of these great names listed above. 

Enter Fabiano Santacroce. 

I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I can honestly say that I have not been so intrigued about the prospect of a young Italian centre-back since Alessandro Nesta burst onto the scene about 12 or so years ago. 

I first saw Santacroce on his Italy Under-21 debut against France last August. The youngster, who I must confess I had never heard of at the time, replaced the injured Marco Andreolli, and had a blinder of a game at the heart of the Azzurrini defence during the 2-1 victory. 

This promise has been fully established since Napoli beat off competition from both Juventus and Inter to sign Santacroce in January from Serie B-outfit Brescia, re-uniting the player with former team-mate Marek Hamsik. 

Since moving to Naples, Santacroce has been an absolute revelation, and he has really come to the fore after three brilliant performances against the big guns of Inter, Roma and Juventus. 

The stopper, who has a Brazilian mother and Italian father, was impenetrable as Napoli inflicted Inter’s first domestic defeat of the season at San Paolo a fortnight ago. The following week, during the 2-0 loss against Roma, he was so impressive that he was substituted to a rousing standing ovation. Finally against Juventus last night Santacroce was man-of-the-match by a country mile, making dozens of interceptions, and at least two brilliant last-gasp tackles. 

Of course it is important not to over-hype the player too much, but all the signs are there that Santacroce could be the next real Italian defensive superstar. 

Physically strong, the 21-year-old possesses lightning pace, is a wonderful reader of the game, and a fine tackler. He also possesses the old-school mental qualities, the fighting spirit and a cynical edge to his game that seems to have disappeared from so many young Italian defenders today. What is more is that Santacroce is also a 'footballer'. He is calm in possession, brings the ball out of defence and initiates attacks. 

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis is predicting a massive future for Santacroce, and says that he is the “new Alessandro Nesta” and will be part of the Italy team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 

“Give him time, and he will go to the 2010 World Cup,” declared the movie mogul. 

"Santacroce certainly will become the next Nesta in a few years. I have never seen anyone so explosive.” 

For a number of years Italy has been crying out for an explosive young centre back to break through. In Fabiano Santacroce it is possible that this player has been found.     

Carlo Garganese

I saw him play on Sunday and he did make a couple of amazing clearances. He might be the real thing, and is certainly worth keeping a very close eye on.

It's been a while... I have not seen a new great Italian defender for ages!!!

Moggi: I Will Return, But Not Under This Juve

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi says he is ready to return to football, but insists he could never work at the Bianconeri under the current leadership.

Moggi was widely referred to as the King of the transfer gurus up until the Calciopoli crisis in the summer of 2006. 

The 70-year-old received a five-year ban from football for his alleged role in the scandal, meaning that he cannot return until 2011, by which time he will be 74. 

However Moggi insists that he is ready to return to football, and has clearly hinted that the date of this return could be much sooner than many people expect. 

He has pointed out though that he will not be working in any capacity under the current Juventus leadership, who he has criticised heavily on numerous occasions over the past 18 months.

"I am ready to return and I hope to do so soon,” Moggi declared. 

“But I can exclude a future at Juve under this leadership.” 

Moggi is still bitter with his exit following Calciopoli, and has maintained all along that the whole scandal was a conspiracy. 

He could not resist another dig at current Juve President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, general manager Jean-Claude Blanc, and sporting director Alessio Secco. 

“I believe that the current Bianconeri leadership are not in harmony with [Coach] Ranieri, who is doing an excellent job," Moggi explained.

"[As for the transfer market] Amauri? He is not a champion, Trezeguet is much better. I do not understand why Juventus are going to buy him.” 

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=626644

Sky highlights of all the games from 28th week. (Credits to www444 from soccerpulse forums)

Some fantastic football and goals. Must watch stuff.

KEEP IT UP NAPOLI!

Fiorentina are much more capable of coming back than we are, even away.

If it wasn't for Napoli this would be 7 pts

It is, although they have been poor this season too.  Refs have given them plenty of points.

This weekend:

Torino-Milan (must-win)
Roma-Empoli (Roma will bounce back, 3-0)
Fiorentina-Lazio (hopefully Lazio gets 3 point here)
Inter-Juve (draw or Inter loss and Roma is back into it)

i dont understand it!!!  how can inter just dominate serie A and we can't.  Surely their team is not better than ours!!!  DAMN IT!

dude.... they have better players in thevery position except the play making positions (kaka and pirlo) and maybe nesta at CB (altough he is obviously on the decline) besides the fact that they have tones of depth and we dont have an ounce of it. i agree inter arent as good as their record suggests and have had help from the refs but it doesnt change the fact that they are better than everyone else in serie a and light years ahead of milan

i disagree with you.  I think there only better than us in the attack and goalkeeping positions of the field.  Otherwise imo we have much better players everywhere else.
The depth issue helps them alot.  They have a solid bench where as we have broccadinho.  Thats the only real differences i see.

Inter won their 16th tonight...

No shite. They won it last Summer. Better, the other teams lost it.

Inter: 12 Julio Cesar; 13 Maicon, 16 Burdisso, 23 Materazzi, 6 Maxwell; 5 Stankovic, 4 Zanetti, 26 Chivu; 11 Jimenez; 8 Ibrahimovic, 9 Cruz.

A disposizione: 1 Toldo, 18 Crespo, 21 Solari, 24 Rivas, 28 Maniche, 29 Suazo, 45 Balotelli.

Juventus: 1 Buffon; 21 Grygera, 33 Legrottaglie, 3 Chiellini, 28 Molinaro; 7 Salihamidzic, 8 Camoranesi, 22 Sissoko, 11 Nedved; 17 Trezeguet, 10 Del Piero.

A disposizione: 12 Belardi, 2 Birindelli, 9 Iaquinta, 20 Palladino, 23 Nocerino, 25 Stendardo, 30 Tiago.