Sunday night Roma won the Derby del Sole at the San Paolo beating Napoli 3-1. Inter Milan won away at Cesena, Juventus’ brilliant start to the season continues and AC Milan won at home to Siena Saturday evening, looks like the traditional top four of Italian Serie A are back as the lead pack.

Saturday 17th December
Three games on Saturday night; the first was Chievo with a home victory over Cagliari 2-0. Chievo goal scorers were Cyril Thereau and Gennaro Sardo. Fiorentina hosted Atalanta and it was an entertaining 2-2 draw. Fiorentina took the lead when Alberto Gilardino in poacher style scored the opener just 9 minutes in which held up until Atalanta hit back with two very late successive goals from Andrea Masiello and German Denis to take the lead. But with two minutes remaining Stevan Jovetic rescued the home side with a brilliant acrobatic effort.

The final game on Saturday was AC Milan to Siena. Both goals coming early in the second half with AC Milan’s Antonio Nocerino firing home the first at the 54th minute mark. Just ten minutes later AC Milan grabbed their second from the penalty spot. Kevin Prince Boateng drew the foul and up stepped uber-Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic to convert in front of AC Milan’s adoring 41,759 San Siro fans.

Sunday 18th December
Juventus’ brilliant form continues as they made hard work of a plucky Novara side, finally winning the game 2-0. An early goal from Simone Pepe and a late strike from Fabio Quagliarella clinched a much deserved three points for the scudetto leaders. Inter Milan won away to Cesena thanks to a second half strike from Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia which moves the Milan based club up to fifth in the league. There was a six goal thriller in Parma as Lecce threw away a two goal lead in the dying minutes to come away with a point. Sergio Floccari gave Parma the lead from the penalty spot, but Lecce hit back with three goals two from David Di Michele and Juan Cuadardo. That looked to give Lecce the three points but Parma hit back thanks to late goals from Graziano Pelle and Daniele Galloppa gave Parma the share of the spoils. Catania took the points in the Sicillian derby over Palermo thanks to goals from Francesco Lodi and a Maxi Lopez penalty. Genoa beat Bologna at home 2-1. Marco Rossi gave Genoa the lead in the first half, Bologna equalised in the second half thanks to Gaston Ramirez but with five minutes remaining Lucas Pratto was the match winner for Genoa as he got the winner.

There were two Sunday night games, Udinese travelled to the capitale to play Lazio and both teams played out a compelling 2-2 draw. Antonio Floro Flores gave Udinese the lead but two goals from Lazio thanks to Senad Lulic and Miroslav Klose. But Udinese equalised with just over fifteen minutes remaining thanks to Giampiero Pinzi.

Finally, the main event of the evening was in Naples where Napoli took on A.S. Roma in the Derby del Sole (derby of the Sun). A surprise to the pundits, Roma came out victorious 3-1. The visitors took the lead after three minutes thanks to a terrible Morgan De Sanctis own-goal. Pablo Osvaldo doubled the lead early in the second half but Marek Hamsik gave the home side some joy with ten minutes left when he struck home causing Romanisti heart strings to flutter, an all to usual frustration which includes stomach upset. In the end it was all for not as Fabio Simplicio during stoppage time would deflected a strike giving manager Luis Enrique’s side all three points and a great confidence boaster. Roma now sit 10 points back of Udinese current holders of a priceless third place Champions League spot. Never say never right Mr. Bond?