Wednesday's friendly between the United States and Italy sees Parma's pint-sized playmaker Sebastian Giovinco partner up with Juventus striker Alessandro Matri in what could be a preview of great things to come. Giovinco, who is currently co-owned by Juve and Parma, is always a focus of transfer speculation and his return to Juventus continues to be talked about.

In the big game on Saturday night there was a bit of a controversial moment in the game when Sulley Muntari headed home from close range only for Gigi Buffon to claw it away. Replays showed the ball crossed the line by at least a yard. The referee pointed back to the centre circle but the linesman on that side didn't give it.

When the Champions League draw of sixteen took place nearly three months ago, Inter were deemed to have the easiest match-up of the three remaining Italian teams. Napoli drew Chelsea, Milan had Arsenal, and Inter were facing Marseille. Both Napoli and Milan finished second in their group and the showdown between the two remaining powerhouse Premier League teams left everyone salivating.

Saturday evening will be a strange one for Andrea Pirlo. This time last season he had fallen out of favor with his manager as his Milan teammates charged through Serie A en route to their 18th scudetto. Twelve months later he has become an integral part in orchestrating Juventus' offense as they make their own charge for the league title.

Francesco Guidolin's Udinese headed into the second-leg of tonight's Europa Leauge Round of 32 tie without a win in four, knowing they needed a big result in Greece tonight. The talismanic Antonio Di Natale was still sidelined with a foot injury, as was long-term absentee Mauricio Isla. Guidolin opted to start duo Diego Fabbrini and Antonio Floro-Flores in attack.

It will not decide the fate of the Scudetto; the season is still too young for that. However, this Saturday's Milan versus Juventus showdown is undoubtedly the game of the season. Milan holds a one point advantage over their adversary. Juve still has a game in hand to make up in March. The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza has been a happy hunting ground for the Bianconeri this campaign, with a League win.

It was barely two years ago that Inter, guided by the inextricable genius of Jose Mourinho, were the proud torch bearers of Italian football. As Milan were embarrassingly crushed 4-0 at Manchester United and as Juventus failed to even progress past the group stages, against the odds, the Nerazzurri overcame Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea as they went on to claim European football's most.

Serie A was flush with top performances this weekend and the Team of the Week award could easily have gone to Bologna, Napoli or Lecce for their respective three-goal victories. The standout performers, however, were Palermo. Bortolo Mutti's men put on a five-star goalscoring clinic to thrash Champions League-chasing Lazio 5-1 and continue a run that's seen them win four of their last six games.

Inter are in a crisis...sound familiar? It should. Fans of the club have been taken on a ride so far this year that would rival even the very best roller-coaster you could find. The Nerazzurri have struggled through drastic dips in form throughout the season, and find themselves in trouble once more.

On Tuesday, Napoli host Chelsea in the Champions League Round of 16 meaning it's unlikely that this Napoli fan will sleep on Monday night. Chelsea may have hit a rough patch recently, but that's no guarantee that things will go well at the San Paolo. The partenopei have, how shall I put this...they have a slight problem when they underestimate the strength of their.

The jewel in Florence's crown; Stevan Jovetic is being targeted by Premiership big spenders, Chelsea FC. But what who are the London club looking to sign? Elegance and artistry are two words which best define Jovetic. Leading Fiorentina's forward line this season, he has sparkled and shown why he is to be considered one of Europe's best players.

This is the time of year when the table starts to balance itself out, and pundits start discussing who's still a serious contender for the scudetto and who's still competing for a Champions League spot. So what's stopping us from taking a look at the other end of the table, seeing who's in the relegation zone and who might be joining them?

During deadline day of the 2011 transfer window, Juventus went out and purchased Eljero Elia, a talented 24-year-old Dutch winger. Somewhat a controversial transfer, the Torino based club bought the player for 9 million Euros making him one of the more expensive signings of the summer and only 1 million less than the price paid for Stephen Lichtsteiner.

A weekend of football that was curtailed by the weather with two games being called off, also a embarrassing weekend on the pitch for Inter as they were humiliated at home by Novara 1-0. What is next for both Inter and Claudio Rainer after a sticky run in the past two weeks? Here are the five best goals from the weekend 5.

Parma and Juventus played out a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Wednesday night in their rescheduled round 21 match, postponed at the start of February due to heavy snowfall. The result means Juve failed to leapfrog Milan and reclaim first place in Serie A, but moved to within one point of the Rossoneri with another game in hand still to play.

It could not have been any better. It could not have been any sweeter. Four unanswered goals from Milan against Arsenal ensured the Italians have at least one foot in the quarter finals. For coach Max Allegri, it was his most significant moment in the Champions League of his short managerial career. But, Allegri was not the star of the night.

Not the best of weeks for Claudio Ranieri at Inter as his team suffered yet another loss, this time to lowly Novara. The defeat capped of a miserable run of results for the Nerazzurri which has seen them claim just one point in their last four fixtures. Incredibly, after defeating Inter early in the season, the Biancoazzurri have claimed a most unlikely double over the 2010 Champions League.

If you told a group of people at the start of the season that Novara would beat Internazionale twice in 2011/12 you'd have been laughed out of the room. The fantasy became a reality on Sunday, however, when the relegation-threatened Biancoazzurri left the Giuseppe Meazza with another Nerazzurri scalp.

Claudio Ranieri has come out and declared that he is not in danger of being sacked. He has also stated that star midfielder Wesley Sneijder is happy at the club, in an attempt to quell rumours of interest from abroad in the Dutch playmaker (for what seems to be the 100th time). "Could he be on his way to Anzhi?

Health scares, multi-million pound on-off deals and the toppling of a prime minister. It has the makings of a political thriller that any dramatist would be proud off. Instead, it has been the script of Massimiliano Allegri's awkward second season in charge of Milan. It is easy to forget just how rocky the waters have been in the background to his attempts to build on the foundations of a debut.