Lecce were relegated, Udinese earned a Champions League spot, and Juventus remained unbeaten in the Italian Serie A on May 13, 2012.

AC Milan 2-1 Novara

After conceding an early goal, Milan responded with goals from Mathieu Flamini and Filippo Inzaghi. Novara end the season in 19th place and will be playing the Serie B next season.

szólj hozzá: INT

This match had everything. Nine goals. Two red cards. Three penalties. Pepe Reina wasn't the only goalie sent off as Julio Cesar suffered the same fate bringing down Rodrigo Palacio. And Andrea Stramaccioni's debut win which rested on a very fine margin till the very last minute.

Four-time World Cup champion Italy has had the upper hand against the U.S. Men's National Team since the two sides first met in 1934. The U.S. faces Italy at 8:45 p.m. local time (2:45 p.m. ET) on Wednesday in Genoa, and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN2, ESPN3 and Galavision:
• The U.

The pressure is on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas in the UEFA Champions League, not only for him to try and salvage his own job security, but also to keep England's hopes at crowning a European winner alive.

It appears that he'll be a bit shorthanded in the first stage of his quest to get the Blues to the UCL quarterfinals, though.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

The U.S. men's national team's friendly against Italy is a little more than two weeks away, and it is the first chance that manager Jurgen Klinsmann has to have his "A" team assembled together in the new year.

With only a few friendlies remaining before World Cup qualifying begins in June, Klinsmann will look to the Feb.

Atalanta Guglielmo Stendardo joined Atalanta on loan from Lazio until the end of the season. The 30-year-old defender has spent most of past two seasons on the bench at the Rome club, and will be delighted to get the chance to feature for the first team in Bergamo. (+ve) Another experienced arrival is midfielder Alessandro Carrozza from Serie B outfit Varese.

by Adam Bate

The impending arrival of Carlos Tevez could well end any hopes Filippo Inzaghi had of winning back his place in the AC Milan Champions League squad let alone the first team. Unless Super Pippo can prove people wrong one more time, the 38-year-old poacher will have to seek a new home before the transfer window closes.

Gazzetta dello Sport Tevez comes to the table Galliani dines with the Argentine in Rio and has a yes Then he makes an ‘original' offer to the English But Inter try the overtake and offer more to City United think about Wes again, Leo on Maicon Ferguson is ready to offer 30 million for Sneijder. And PSG are interested in the Brazilian De Rossi, Roma's true rival is Mancini Vazquez to Palermo, he.

8 milioni alla Fiorentina, 1, 6 a stagione (per 4 anni) al centravanti. Il 29enne bomber biellese Alberto Gilardino (campione del mondo nel 2006) lascia la Fiorentina dopo 3 stagioni (era in Toscana dal 2008, 118 presenze e 48 reti con i gigliati), e passa al Genoa del presidente Preziosi. Il Calciomercato di Serie A,Continua a leggere .

... and all through the land, rumours, scandal and transfer talk were at hand! What better way to end the year here at Futbolita, at least where calcio is concerned, with a look at what lies ahead in the upcoming year?

Barbara Berlusconi – daughter of disgraced former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, member of Milan's board of directors, and Alexandre Pato's girlfriend – has been the subject of much speculation as of late, with many gossip magazines claiming the beautiful blonde is carrying Pato's child.

... and all through the land, rumours, scandal and transfer talk were at hand! What better way to end the year here at Futbolita, at least where calcio is concerned, with a look at what lies ahead in the upcoming year?

Barbara Berlusconi – daughter of disgraced former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, member of Milan's board of directors, and Alexandre Pato's girlfriend – has been the subject of much speculation as of late, with many gossip magazines claiming the beautiful blonde is carrying Pato's child.

We've featured as many as we could, but there's always going to be a tummy or 10 that we miss.

Join us, Kickettes, as we look back at the best midsections from each of the last 12 months.

That's an order not a question.

JANUARY

Image Credit: Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe; Alex Livesay/Getty Images.

With another match day already upon us Serie A did not disappoint at the weekend and there was some cracking action. Apart from Napoli all of the top teams in Italy picked up wins i.e. AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Roma. Juventus returned to the top of the league. Here are the Top 5 Goals of Week 15 5.

Gilardino focused on Viola

Alberto Gilardino is fully focused on doing well with Fiorentina despite talk linking him with a Liverpool move, insists his agent.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-11-22 18:11:37 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Alan Duffy

Italian international striker Alberto Gilardino was rewarded for netting Fiorentina's first goal of the new Serie A campaign against Bologna by receiving one hundred bottles of Chianti from the Chianti Wine Consortium, which will be presented to the player by the Consortium's president, Giovanni Busi.

Fiorentina got off to the perfect start with a 2-0 win over Bologna on a sunny Sunday at the Stadio Franchi. Stevan Jovetic made his return, missing a year out with an horrific knee injury, and played alongside Alberto Gilardino in attack. Summer signing Santiago Silva had to do with a place on the bench after his summer arrival from Velez in Argentina.

Fiorentina got off to the perfect start with a 2-0 win over Bologna on a sunny Sunday at the Stadio Franchi. Stevan Jovetic made his return, missing a year out with an horrific knee injury, and played alongside Alberto Gilardino in attack. Summer signing Santiago Silva had to do with a place on the bench after his summer arrival from Velez in Argentina.

By Andrew McCarten

The final of the 2010 World Cup. Your country has never won the tournament despite being universally acclaimed for a football philosophy that has developed over the course of time. Your side has knocked out heavy favorites Brazil in the quarters, and survived an absolute battle against Uruguay to make it to the final, and now you find yourself in a match that has been hard-fought to say the very least.

As we predicted last week, the fact that Giuseppe Rossi will remain at Villarreal has seen Juventus switch their attention to Mirko Vucinic who has now joined the Turin giants from fellow Serie A side Roma.

While the list of prospective targets starts to dwindle, could Spurs look to Italy again and make a move for Fiorentina striker Alberto Gilardino?

I wrote this article two days ago, but Wordpress hates me, so I could only get it up now. Sorry if it feels old...

It's exactly forty days until the Serie A season officially begins (28th August 2011). I think I'll take a break from criticising the FIGC to write about some recent transfer rumours and an argument in Rome, with some pre-season friendlies thrown in for good measure.

Can a man's work be separated from his personal life? Movie-watchers must ask themselves if it is possible to enjoy the works of Roman Polanski knowing of the sexual allegations directed towards the director, or if Mel Gibson's bigotry should lead them to boycott his films. Cesena fans find themselves faced with a similar dilemma this season, as the club brings in Adrian Mutu to help an anemic.

Liverpool look to have made a €13M bid for Fiorentina's left winger Juan Manuel Vargas. Reports from Italy suggest the Reds have contacted La Viola to put forward what they hope will be an attractive offer for the Peru international.
However, Vargas is highly rated by Fiorentina and the 27-year-old is valued substantially higher by the Serie A side, meaning Liverpool will likely have to improve on their current bid should they wish to bag the player this summer.

How Fiorentina banished the nightmares of C2 Finding a ticket to an old football match at the bottom of a drawer is like discovering hidden treasure. It flicks a time-travel switch sending the mind scrabbling backwards trying to recall as much detail as possible about the game concerned. It stirs the soul with emotions from another era.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kickette Army boys and girls, it's time to put a little deposit in your karma bank (yes, ours is overdrawn, but we'll make up for it with some short tents, pinky swearsies).

In fact, nice healthy short tents and the men who pitch them are important to all of us, so in support of Cancer Research UK's Do Me A Favour campaign, we encourage you to send any men in your lives a friendly check-up reminder from Gary Lineker.

The Beckhams are having a girl. Iker Casillas is giving unruly bedhead a run for its money. Jack Rodwell's mobile should be searching for sanitiser. This weekend's gossip lacked clear direction, but made amends with Olaya Villa's first steps forward.

Saturday

- In case you missed our weekend Retweet, David Beckham told folks at an L.

by guest writer Liam Apicella Champions League hunting Palermo will be hoping that they have no more early kick offs for the remainder of the season. For the fourth time in four consecutive 12:30pm starts, the Rosanero have slipped to defeat, on this occasion it was visiting Fiorentina who were the beneficiaries.

In episode 4.1 Adam and Walker travel south to Sicily and welcome Lorenzo Vicini (think I got that right this time) to the podcast. The boyz discuss all things Palermo as well as the full fixture list from Match day 21 of Italian Serie A. Lorenzo writes for the Palermo-offside and is dedicated supporter of the Azzurri as well.

After a 1-1 draw with Bologna, Fiorentina find themselves languishing in 16th place a mere 6 points from bottom of the tabe. Qasa Alom looks at whether la Viola have what it takes to beat the drop... Alberto Gilardino is a man who earned his salt scoring goals from scraps and half-chances to keep Parma in Serie A two seasons consecutively, but I doubt that when he signed for Milan and subsequently.

After a 1-1 draw with Bologna, Fiorentina find themselves languishing in 16th place a mere 6 points from bottom of the tabe. Qasa Alom looks at whether la Viola have what it takes to beat the drop... Alberto Gilardino is a man who earned his salt scoring goals from scraps and half-chances to keep Parma in Serie A two seasons consecutively, but I doubt that when he signed for Milan and subsequently.