SoccerBlogs

Always good to unwind on Friday with some videos of goals:

More videos after the jump:

Bonus video, Nike Football:

And finally, a little music to get ready for the weekend:

For a team that drops points as rarely as Juventus has in recent years, a two-match winless streak is enough to ring alarm bells. With their lead atop Serie A down to three matches, the Old Lady head into their showdown vs. Udinese knowing they can't afford many more slip-ups.

Udinese currently sit in eight place in Serie A, but consecutive blowout wins to start the new year has them feeling confident heading into today's showdown in Turin.

Udinese - Roma 1 - 1: Un pari brutto, occasione sprecata Di Fabrizio Landolfi Sabato sera è finito 1-1 l'anticipo della 28ma giornata di campionato, tra Udinese e Roma. Allo stadio Friuli di Udine i giallorossi sono andati in vantaggio al 20' con una rete di Erik Lamela, ma nella ripresa i padroni di casa hanno pareggiato, al 61', con Muriel.

Udinese - Roma: A caccia del quarto successo di fila Di Fabrizio Landolfi Sabato sera alle 20.45 la Roma di Andreazzoli sar in campo allo stadio Friuli di Udine, per l'anticipo della 28ma giornata di campionato. I giallorossi andranno a caccia della quarta vittoria consecutiva, dopo aver avuto la meglio su Juve, Atalanta e Genoa nelle ultime tre giornate.

Napoli trail Serie A leaders Juventus by six points after a goalless draw with Udinese on Monday, Napoli's third consecutive Serie A draw, while Lazio maintained their Champions League ambitions by beating Pescara 2-0.

Having gone into the weekend four points behind the Bianconeri, Walter Mazzarri's team dropped two valuable points as Napoli is going through a bad patch of form at the worst possible time.

Milan VP passes racist comments about Balotelli - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

AC Milan vice president Paolo Berlusconi has described Mario Balotelli as "negretto di famiglia" ("family's little nigger") sparking controversy in the Italian media.

At the centre of racial remarks made by Paolo Berlusconi

Paolo is the younger brother of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is currently the president of Milan, made such comments at a political meeting in Monza.

Siguen los rumores de clubes europeos interesados en jugadores mexicanos, principalmente de quienes ganaron la medalla de oro en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012, y ahora vuelve a sonar en los medios del viejo continente el nombre de Hiram Mier.

El defensa de los Rayados de Monterrey estaría en la mira del Udinese italiano y el Newcastle inglés, según medios británicos (tómese entonces con precaución la nota).

By Alan Duffy

"How Ya Like Me Now, Fergie!!!!?"

There have been plenty of 'new Patrick Vieira's' in the past decade or so, but in the leggy, muscular and mohawked form of Paul Pogba, France may well have found their next world-class midfield dominator.

Against Udinese on Saturday night, the former Man Utd youngster produced a quite stunning long-range effort which topped off a fine display in the centre of the Bianconeri's midfield.

Andrea Lazzari (R) of Udinese with Arturo Vidal of Juventus-Photo by Dino Panato/Getty Images

2013 did not start well for the Old Lady of Italian soccer. Juventus have won just one point from a possible six in their last two matches. Coming off a loss to 15th seed Sampdoriaand a tie with 9th seed Parma,Juventus will face off against Udinese at home on Saturday, Jan.

Udinese defender jailed in Brazil over racial abuse - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The Sao Paolo Criminal Court has set a high standard for the zero-tolerance policy against racism for FIFA as they sentenced Danilo to a year in jail over racism charges.

Danilo Larangeira is now playing for Udinese

Udinese's Brazilian defender Danilo Larangeira has been sentenced to a year in jail for racially abusing Atletico Paranaense player Manoel Carvalho.

By Chris Wright

Udinese's Brazilian defender Danilo has been sentenced to a year in prison in his homeland after being caught by television cameras callingAtletico Paranense opponent Manoel"macaco" a monkey and spitting at the player while playing forPalmeiras in 2010.

Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

The battle for supremacy in Italy continued this past weekend as the race towards the top of the table became even tighter.

The key result was second-place Inter Milan's 1-0 away defeat at the hands of Lazio. In a relatively even affair, the teams looked likely to share the spoils until a Miroslav Klose goal in the 82nd minute gave the hosts the lead they would maintain until the final whistle.

By Chris Wright

"Ronery, I'm so ronery..."

Here's a little yarn to warm your cockles on this brisk Winter's morn: The solitary Udinese fan who turned out to watch his side's 0-2 victory over Sampdoria on Sunday evening has quite rightly become a minor celebrity in Italian football.

By Chris Wright

We knew Serie A attendances were dwindling, but we had no idea it was quite this bad...

What you're looking at here is the entire travelling fanbase that Udinese took with them to Genoa last night. For reasons unknown, only one solitary guy made the 320-mile, four-hour journey across Italy from Udine to Genoa to watch his side's 0-2 victory.

By Chris Wright

We knew Serie A attendances were dwindling, but we had no idea it was quite this bad...

What you're looking at here is the entire travelling fanbase that Udinese took with them to Sampdoria last night. For reasons unknown, only one solitary guy made the 320-mile, four-hour journey across Italy from Udine to Genoa to watch his side's 0-2 victory.

Liverpool have held talks with Lille's young star Lucas Digne in a bid to rejuvenate their defence, writes The Mirror.
The £8million rated defender is hot property and Brendan Rogers may be looking to splash his cash over the summer transfer period.
The French left-back has reportedly also been linked with Premier League rivals Manchester United and Manchester City.

Arsenal and Liverpool target Alexis Sanchez says he does not want to leave Barcelona this summer.
The Chilean star signed for the Catalonia side for an initial €26 million from Udinese in 2011, but has since failed to live up to the hype at the La Liga giants.
At the time the pacy winger was wanted by Manchester United and Manchester City, and was one of the most wanted players in world football.

Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez is ready to ignore interest from the Premier League and return to Serie A with Inter Milan this summer.
After enjoying a fine first season in Spain following his £30m move from Udinese, Sanchez has struggled somewhat in his second campaign at the Nou Camp.
The Chilean international has been forced to play an increasingly marginal role since Pep Guardiola's departure, and has been linked with a move away at the end of the season with Liverpool and Manchester City among the interested parties.

Napoli has joined Liverpool among the growing pack of clubs chasing Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.
The 24-year-old, who plays for Chile at international level, has had mixed fortunes at the Nou Camp this season, managing just nine league starts and one goal.
Barca managed to fend off competition from across Europe when they signed him from Udinese in a £23m deal back in July 2011, but he has struggled to nail down a first-team place.

Liverpool is weighing up a move to make Nuri Sahin's stay at the club a permanent switch.
The midfielder joined the Anfield club on a season-long loan from Real Madrid in a bid to gain regular first-team experience but has been restricted to just seven Premier League appearances.
Sahin recently returned to the Reds squad after undergoing surgery for a broken nose sustained during the decisive Europa League group game with Udinese earlier this month but has failed to feature in a domestic outing since an hour-long run-out in November's 1-1 draw at Chelsea.

BY JUSTIN FERGUSON

AC Milan had high hopes for Mario Balotelli when they signed the troubled Italian striker away from Manchester City, but even the 'Rossoneri' couldn't have expected him to make such an immediate impact.

Balotelli enjoyed a dream debut for his new club, scoring both goals in AC's 2-1 win over Udinese on Sunday.

After scoring just once in 14 Premier League appearances for Man City this season, Mario Balotelli scored both of Milan's goals in his debut against Udinese. Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy (who form Milan's mohawk triumvirate with M'baye Niang) picked up where they left off with the Italian national team and both played a part in each of Milan's goals for the 2-1 win.

For a team who had reached two Champions League's qualifications in as many previous seasons, ending a campaign in fifth place might be seen as an underachievement. Instead, Udinese's players and staff– after clobbering Inter 5-2 at the San Siro – were celebrating like they had just won a cup.

Udinese traveled to Genoa for their match against Sampdoria on Monday and one man showed up to support them in the otherwise empty visitor's section. Whether that man happened to be a local Udinese supporter or the only person who made the 600-mile round trip to follow his club isn't clear, but he was there and he was apparently the only one.