Meanwhile Lazio beat 10-man Roma to win Derby della Capitale for their first derby double in a season since 1998 and has AVB been lined up to replace Enrique?
“Could you win?” implored the banner held above the head of the nine-year-old boy with the Inter scarf at the front of the San Siro’s Tribuna Arancio. “Otherwise at school they will make fun of me. Thanks, Filippo.”
Unfortunately for Filippo, Inter continued to hold down the self-destruct button and capitulated 3-0 to a Bologna side who began the weekend in 17th position in Serie A. But unlike the 200 supporters who waited outside the stadium at full-time to aim kicks at the car of Inter Milan CEO Ernesto Paollilo, Filippo’s dignified protest was rewarded with an invite to training rather than a police baton.
Club president and owner Massimo Moratti ordered his team officials to identify the boy and then invited him to receive a personal apology from the players, led by the captain Javier Zanetti, as well as a new replica shirt.
Fillipo would also be interviewed by just about every news organisation in Italy and despite his youth, he showed his tactical astuteness: “The manager [Claudio Ranieri] came to shake my hand and I asked him to win again soon,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“But I wanted to ask him why the players haven’t been shooting much lately. If you don’t shoot much then you won’t score much.”
Ranieri’s response wasn’t recorded but as they only managed one shot on target in their following fixture against Napoli, which they lost 1-0, perhaps Fillipo’s message needed time to sink in.
At least in last weekend’s fixture against Catania, they managed 5 attempts on target. And thankfully for Fillipo, Ranieri and Inter, two of these were late strikes that found the net and allowed Inter to overturn a 2-0 half-time deficit and salvage a share of the points, thus avoiding a fifth straight league defeat.
Meanwhile in the capital, Lazio coach Edy Reja had managed to avoid a fifth straight league defeat to arch-rivals Roma when the two sides met earlier in the season. An injury-time winner by Miroslav Klose brought joy to the Biancocelesti supporters in the Curva Nord end of the Stadio Olimpico but could Reja repeat that success when the sides met last weekend in the second of this season’s “Derby della Capitale”?
Obviously Reja is a superstitious man and so he repeated his actions from earlier in the year by again offering his resignation in the days before the game. At the start of the season, he felt that there was a lack of support from the Lazio faithful whereas directorial interference was his reason this time around. Lazio club president Claudio Lotito persuaded Reja to remain on and fight for the 3rd Champions League qualifying position which looks like it will be a battle between themselves and Udinese.
And so Reja turned his attention away from packing his bags and back to the encounter with Roma. “I know what this match means for the fans and the city,” he continued. “It is of fundamental importance to the capital, but I hope that Lazio give me similar satisfaction to the match earlier in the season.
“We are going through a positive period, and we have the peace of mind to play with lots of confidence. Lazio will keep fighting for third place against their rivals. We are aware of the qualities of teams like Inter and Udinese, all whom are able to fight for this position.”
In the early season encounter, Reja’s team received a significant boost when the Roma defender Simon Kjaer was sent off while giving away the penalty that would lead to Lazio’s equaliser. This time his Lazio side only needed eight minutes for good fortune to smile their way when Roma’s goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg received his marching orders after bringing down Klose when through on goal.
Hernanes duly converted the penalty – just as he did in the first meeting – but there exists proper gladiatorial fighting spirit in Luis Enrique’s Roma side, especially when their ranks contain De Rossi and Totti. And so less than ten minutes later, the Giallorossi were level through Fabio Borini’s close range effort. And credit should go to linesman Cristiano Copelli for spotting Borini’s effort had crossed the goal-line before being headed clear by Giuseppe Biava.
After the drama and post-match exchanges following Sulley Muntari’s ghost goal against Juventus and Buffon’s response, it was a welcome reminder that the officials generally get it right.
Although having said that, Roma coach Luis Enrique wasn’t totally enamoured with the officiating that led to his team being a man down for over 80 minutes: “There are 12 games to go and our work is to continue to the end of the season. If we talk about the two derbies, it would be nice to play with 11 players on the field,” he told reporters after the game. “I don’t talk about referees so I won’t discuss the incidents.”
“I don’t know what we did to deserve this,” he continued. “It was a terrible shame, as we spent all week preparing for this game and then had to completely scrap everything after seven minutes. If we had lost with 11 against 11, then that would be easier to deal with, but in this situation it becomes very frustrating and disappointing. I really thought we could win this match doing our best, but it all crumbled after seven minutes.”
The result meant that instead of cutting the gap to Lazio to four points, this defeat leaves Roma in sixth place and 10 points behind Lazio, who moved up to third.
An upturn in Roma’s fortunes are needed if Enrique is to remain in charge for next season, especially as rumours circulate that Andre Villas-Boas had a secret meeting in London with Roma general manager Franco Baldini last month to discuss him taking over at the club next season. Enrique’s best hope may be that Inter get to AVB first.
Results:
Parma 1-2 Napoli, AS Roma 1-2 Lazio, Fiorentina 2-0 Cesena, Lecce 2-2 Genoa, Siena 3-0 Cagliari, Udinese 0-0 Atalanta, Bologna 1-0 Novara, Inter 2-2 Catania, Palermo 0-4 AC Milan, Juventus 1-1 Chievo Verona
Fixtures:
Wednesday, March 7
Cesena v Catania
Bologna v Juventus
Parma v Fiorentina
Friday, March 9
Chievo Verona v Inter
Napoli v Cagliari
Saturday, March 10
Palermo v AS Roma
Sunday, March 11
Novara v Udinese
AC Milan v Lecce
Atalanta v Parma
Catania v Fiorentina
Cesena v Siena
Genoa v Juventus
Lazio v Bologna
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
