Former Juventus striker Amauri gave his old side the upper hand in the Serie A title race with a last minute goal for his new club Fiorentina away at the San Siro to give the Viola a much needed win as they fight to stave off relegation. Juventus then went away to Palermo and won 2-0 and now are thirty one league games unbeaten this season. The race for third is once again interesting as both Lazio and Udinese recorded wins while Inter drew away Cagliari as Roma and Napoli went down to away losses at Lecce and Lazio respectively.

Saturday 07th April

All ten games kicked off on Saturday during the Easter festivities; we start at the top where struggling Fiorentina traveled to AC Milan. The champions took the lead from the penalty spot when Maxi Lopez was brought down in the penalty box under the challenge of Matija Nastasic. . Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent Artur Boruc the wrong way to give his side the lead. But Fiorentina hit back early in the second half when Stevan Jovetic broke the offside trap and went one on one with Christian Abbiati cooly slotting the ball under the Milan keeper. With two minutes remaining Fiorentina shocked the San Siro by nabbing the winner when Philippe Mexes  made a mess of a routine long ball which fell into the path of Amauri who played a lovely one-two with Stevan Jovetic before he slotted the ball home with a cool finish.

Juventus kicked off ninety minutes later in Sicily where they took on Palermo and they had to wait until the second half for the breakthrough when an Andrea Pirlo corner was powerfully headed home by Leonardo Bonucci. Juventus killed the game off later as they doubled their lead when Alessandro Matri turned his defender and laid the ball off to Fabio Quagliarella who curled the ball home beautifully with his left foot into the bottom corner.

Cagliari hosted Inter not in Sardinia but in Trieste over 700 miles away, due to a squabble between the president Massimo Cellino and the local council in Sardinia over the renovation of the ground. The ‘home’ side took the lead when Davide Astori acrobatically volleyed home while being tugged by Andrea Ranocchia who was getting a rare start. But a minute later Diego Milito equalised the Argentine in a hot streak of scoring four in his last two. Mauro Zarate with a deft cross which found Diego Milito who sprung the offside trap, turned and slotted home. Cagliari took the lead on the hour when Daniele Conti crossed in for the unmarked Maurico Pinilla to head home, but the striker was sent off after picking up his second yellow for his celebration after jumping onto the fence and climbing onto it. While the lead once again lasted a matter of minutes when Diego Forlan crossed in from the right for Esteban Cambiasso who poked home to give Inter the share of the spoils.

Cesena and Bologna played out a 0-0 draw in the Emilia-Romagna derby but it could have been the away side that nicked all three when Alessandro Diamanti who had an inspiring game had an effort from the edge of the area went just wide of the upright.

Novara and Genoa played out a 1-1 draw in the return of Alberto Malesani to the bench for the away side after Pasquale Marino was relieved of his duties. Genoa took the lead when Giuseppe Sculli crossed in for Rodrigo Palacio who swept the ball home from inside of the area. Novara equalised in the second half and what a goal it was as a cross in from the left was punched away by Sebastian Frey the ball found Giuseppe Mascara on the edge of the area and he hit a brilliant half volley into the bottom corner. Novara had Andrea Caracciolo sent off in stoppage time for a lunge on Davide Biondini.

In a heated game on the touchline between both coaches in Bergamo, Siena claimed a brilliant 2-1 away win over Atalanta. Atalanta took the lead when Ezequiel Barros Schelotto poked home. But the lead only lasted a matter of minutes after Siena equalised from the penalty spot after Andrea Consigli brought down Marcelo Larrondo and the Striker dusted himself down and sent his penalty kick down the middle. It was in stoppage time when Siena claimed the winner and it was Mattia Destro who got the winner as he got on the end of a through ball on the left, skipped past the Atalanta defence and on the angle with his right foot opened up his body and slotted it past Andrea Consigli into the far corner. Both Coaches Giuseppe Sannino and Stefano Colantuo had a bit of a heated scuffle after Mattia Destro scored the winner.

Roma travelled to Lecce and were truly embarrassed as once again poor Roma defending cost them the game. Lecce raced into a four goal lead inspired by Luis Muriel and David Di Michele. Luis Muriel opened the scoring as he broke the offside trap and rounded the Roma keeper Maarten Stekelenburg to score into a empty net. David Di Michele doubled the lead just before the interval as he volleyed home from close range. It was 3-0 just after the interval and it was Luis Muriel who danced around two Roma defenders on the right hand touchline cut in and hit fly from at least thirty yards out with a left footed rocket into the bottom corner. It got worse for Roma as it was four moments later and it was from the penalty spot when Gabriel Heinze fouled the impressive Muriel. David Di Michele stepped up and made no mistake with the spot kick, sending Stekelenburg the wrong way. In added time Roma rallied as Erik Lamela crossed in for Bojan to volley home and then Erik Lamela curled in a beautiful free kick from thirty yards out which left the Lecce keeper flat footed. But it was too little too late.

Udinese got a fine victory at home to Parma and put themselves in the race for the final Champions league spot in Italy. Kwadwo Asamoah opened the scoring from the home side as he got on the end of an Antonio Di Natale knock down to fire home from inside of the six yard box. Udinese doubled the lead in the second half as Pablo Armero broke down the left and crossed in for Antonio Di Natale who controlled the ball brilliantly and hit a wonderful angle drive. Parma pulled one back in the final minutes of the game when Udinese failed to deal with a set piece where the ball fell to Alessandro Lucarelli who made no mistake firing home a drilled left footed effort. But it was short lived as Udinese hit Parma on the counter attack, Kwadwo Asamoah fed the ball to Antonio Di Natale who had his shot saved but the rebound fell to Asamoah who made no mistake curling the ball into the far corner.

The Flying Donkeys Chievo entertained Vincenzo Montella Catania in a five goal thriller, American International Michael Bradley opened the scoring with a low side footed effort into the bottom corner. Poor Catania defending gave Chievo the second from the penalty spot as Nicholas Spoli slipped in the penalty area and fouled the onrushing Serge Pelissier; the Catania defender received his marching orders. Serge Pelissier made no mistake with the spot kick and doubled Chievo lead. Catania pulled one back and it was from a Chievo player as Marco Andreolli diverted a cross into his own net which looped over Stefano Sorrentino. Alberto Paloschi doubled Chievo lead in the second half as the young Italian striker sprung the offside trap to round Juan Pablo Carrizo and slot home into an empty net. But Catania made it a nervous last five minutes for Chievo as a cross in from the right and it bobbled it way to Sergio Almiron to slide home.

The final match of the weekend was Lazio home match with Napoli and before the game there was a minute silence for Lazio legend Giorgio Chinaglia who sadly passed away the week before in America. Lazio fans had banners for the Italian international thanking him for his time with Lazio. Antonio Candreva gave Lazio the lead when his angle drive went under Napoli keeper Morgan De Sanctis. Napoli equalised before the half time interval where Ezequiel Lavezzi wonderful back heel played in Goran Pandev who curled home to equalise. Lazio took the lead with twenty minutes remaining a wow the goal of the weekend when Stefan Radu crossed in for Stefano Mauri who let fly with a amazing overhead kick which flew past Morgan De Sanctis. Ten minutes remaining Lazio were awarded a spot kick when Gokhan Inler poor back pass to Miguel Britos was a bit shot and Tomasso Rocchi capitalised but the Uruguayan defender was bit late with his challenge. Cristian Ledesma duly took the spot kick and made no mistake.

A cracking weekend action in Serie A and we don’t have to wait long for the next dose of Serie A football as there is midweek action spreading over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.