Not winning a game since early February Genoa are finding themselves in a battle to survive the drop after their third defeat in seven days. On Sunday they lost away at Bologna and with Lecce losing as well, Genoa are one point above the relegation zone. A squad that was bought for European football could be playing Serie B football next season.

Saturday 28th April

There were three games on Saturday evening; there was a Sicilian derby on which Palermo hosted Catania. It was the away side Catania who took the lead when Alejandro Gomes crossed in from the left to the back post, Pablo Barrientos headed across goal to Nicola Legrottaglie to head home from close range. But moments after the restart Palermo equalised and it was their talisman Fabrizio Miccoli who got the goal.

Cagliari and Chievo shared a goalless draw on which both teams squandered chances, Victor Ibarbo wasted two late chances for the homeside.

Third and final game of Saturday was Roma vs. Napoli in the derby of the south. Roma took the lead just before the half time interval when a lovely one-two between Aleandro Rosi and Francesco Totti who cut the defence with a ball to Rosi who crossed in for Marquinho to stab home. Napoli equalised three minutes into the second half when a short corner was played to Juan Zuniga who let fly from twenty five yards out on the angle and it flew past Bogdan Lobont. With twenty minutes remaining Napoli took the lead when Goran Pandev played in Edinson Cavani who was one on one with Simon Kjaer, the Napoli forward opened his body up and curled home a wonderful goal from just outside of the area. But Roma hit back with three minutes remaining Fabio Simplicio equalised as he poked home a Tallo cross, the Brazilian celebrated by going into the crowd and giving his wife a kiss.

Sunday 29th April

The lunch time kick off in Italy pitted Bologna vs. Genoa. Most of these lunchtime kick off are quite slow and nothing really happened. But not today we witnessed good football and five goals. Bologna raced into a two goal lead before half time with goals from Daniele Portanova, a header from an Alessandro Diamanti free kick. Gaston Ramirez got the second when he reacted quickest when Marco Di Vaio effort was saved. Rodrigo Palacio pulled one back in the second half when Fernando Belluschi cross was headed cross goal by Marco Rossi which found Palacio who headed home. But that was short lived when Gyorgy Garics restored the two goal lead. But with over ten minutes remaining Genoa added a second to make the game interesting when Rodrigo Palacio went on a lung busting run and fed the ball to Cristobal Jorquera who slammed the ball home.

Atalanta are mathematically save now after a 2-0 home win over Fiorentina. Goals in each half from German Denis and Giacomo Bonaventura gave Atalanta the points. Stevan Jovetic had a penalty kick saved by Andrea Consigli.

The race for third is hotting up now as Inter Milan turned a 1-0 deficit to win over already relegated Cesena. Luca Ceccarelli gave Cesena the lead ten minutes into the second half when he let fly with a half volley from twenty yards out on the angle which took a deflection of Yuto Nagatomo. But a minute later Inter equalised when John Obi low drive was deflected past Cesena keeper Francesco Antonioli. Inter got the winner twenty minutes from time when Fredy Guarin crossed in for Mauro Zarate to head home.

Lecce hope for avoiding the drop took a huge dent when they lost at home to Parma. All of the goals came in the second half. Parma took the lead with a brilliant free kick by Sebastian Giovinco. Gabriel Palletta doubled the lead with a lovely deft finish. Nenad Tomovic pulled one back as he headed home but Lecce could not find the equaliser.

Last year Champions travelled to Siena and cameback with a convincing away win. Antonio Cassano netted his first goal since his comeback after several months out after heart surgery after a stroke. Zlatan Ibrahimovic doubled the lead minutes later with a rifled effort from just inside of the penalty box which flew into top corner. Erjon Bogdani pulled one back but Milan hit back with two late goals. The third goal was from Antonio Nocerino which was a brilliant individual goal, dancing around Siena defence and fires home. The fourth was a
dded by Zlatan Ibrahimovic to add gloss on to the scoreline.

Juventus travelled to Novara to play on the synthetic pitch and came away with a convincing 4-0 win. Mirko Vucinic opens the scoring as he flicks Andrea Pirlo free kick in. Marco Borriello gets his second in two games with a lovely diving header. Arturo Vidal adds a third, then Mirko Vucinic slams home the 4th. So Juventus are still unbeaten this season can they last three more league games.

The last game of the weekend action was in Udine and it was a clash of the Champions League contenders as Udinese entertained Lazio. Udinese took the lead in the second half when Maurizo Domizzi crossed in for Antonio Di Natale who left his marker and volleyed low on the floor into the bottom corner. The second goal of the game came in added time when a Dusan Basta cleared and the Lazio players thought they heard a whistle and stopped. Roberto Pereyra headed the ball into his own path and slotted into the back of the net and the goalie stranded. Replays show that the referee did not blow for the full time. The Lazio players were furious with Andre Dias getting sent off for protesting. Federico Marchetti pushed the referee and Lionel Scaloni had to be dragged away by his team mates.