Serie A always delivers when it comes to excitement, talking points, great goals, better defending and fantastic fans.
This season had all of these in abundance and gave calcio followers many a moment that will be remembered (fondly or otherwise) for years to come as this list takes you through the 10 Moments of the Season which includes emotional goals, demanding tifosi and a manager who belonged in a boxing ring and not on a bench in the Italian top tier.
Italian sides do the peninsula proud against Europe’s elite
Not many pundits across Europe would have given AC Milan and Napoli much of a chance when they drew two products of the Premier League hype-machine in the Champions League round of 16 in Arsenal and Chelsea respectively. These were teams who were supposed to easily find their way past their ‘defensive’ Italian opponents. What Serie A’s representatives did in their first legs on home soil proved that Italian football was still very much a major player and made the country very proud of their efforts.
A Robinho-inspired Milan destroyed Arsenal with absolute ease at San Siro as the Brazilian managed to score twice to add to a wonderful volley from Kevin Prince Boateng and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty to put the Rossoneri in the driving seat. Southwards in Naples, the Partneopei were clinical in their destruction of eventual finalists Chelsea as Edinson Cavani’s goal was bookmarked by strikes from Ezequiel Lavezzi to cancel out Juan Mata’s opener. Although they couldn’t quite finish the job in London and although Milan came perilously close to collapsing once more, their performances in the later stages against quality opposition allowed Serie A fans to take great pride in the league’s accomplishments.
Maurizio Zamparini talks a lot of balls
Yes this may be something that we are well accustomed to from the Palermo President but earlier this season this sentence was meant in an entirely literal sense as Zamparini provided us with one of the soundbites of the season. Always known for his outspoken approach to dealing with the media and life at the club in general, he found a rather unique way of expressing his feelings about letting go of manager Stefano Pioli last summer before the season had even began and without the tactician taking charge of a competitive game.
Pioli has gone on to enjoy great success this season with Bologna and has been a major reason for their rise up the Serie A standings. When Zamparini was questioned about this in March and asked about whether or not he felt he had been too rash in deciding to part ways with the manager, his simple response was that “I am eating my second testicle and I have already at the first.” Quite what the man in charge of affairs at the Renzo Barbera is talking about here we have no idea and your guess is as good as ours. However, it did provide us with one of the more light-hearted moments of this season.
Is it always this crazy here?
Andrea Stramaccioni’s expression of sheer bemusement and joy at the end of his first game in charge of Inter said more about the current state of affairs with the Nerazzurri than 1,000 words ever could. He had just presided over his first game as a top flight manager and it was perhaps the game of the season for its utter craziness as his new recruits managed to overcome relegation-threatened Genoa 5-4.
A Diego Milito hatrick and goals from Walter Samuel and Mauro Zarate should have had Inter out of sight but they continued to allow Genoa back into a game they should have killed off having been 3-0, 4-2 and 5-3 up at different stages of the contest as Emiliano Moretti struck along with Alberto Gilardino who scored two penalties and Rodrigo Palacio also struck in the second half to give the Grifone hope.
Julio Cesar also saw red before the end in a topsy-turvy contest that was as exciting as it was ridiculous from start to finish. These are not the only such scorelines to involve Inter this season as they were beaten 4-3 by Palermo on the opening day before drawing 4-4 in the return game in February and last weekend won a thrilling Milan derby 4-2.
The pressure gets too much for Ranieri in Verona
As well as great excitement on the pitch this season at Inter, there has also been intense emotion expressed off the field too.
Claudio Ranieri had been targeted for a tough time from the media from the moment he took the job as he struggled to adapt to the giant task left by the various messes created by Rafael Benitez, Leonardo and Gian Piero Gasperini. Things didn’t go much better for the coach nicknamed the ‘Tinkerman’ due to his constant changing of his teams and the pressure was growing on him to quit from the fans.
This was mainly down to a horrendous run of form since winning the Derby della Madonnina in January when they won just once in eight games and left his future with the club hanging in the balance ahead of their visit to Verona to play Chievo. It was obvious that Ranieri was struggling to deal with the intense scrutiny and pressure he was being placed under at every moment and by the end of the game at the Bentegodi he had cracked.
It looked as though it would be another game without a win with the sides deadlocked with three minutes remaining but Walter Samuel and Diego Milito pounced in the closing stages to seal the win for Inter and resulted in Ranieri breaking down into tears of joy and relief as fans all over Italy empathised with the manager who would be sacked just two games later.
Things get out of hand in Friuli fracas
Just two weeks ago in the race for the final Champions League place we witnessed one of the most curious and bewildering scenes of the season as Udinese took on Lazio at the Stadio Friuli.
With the home side leading through Antonio Di Natale’s well-taken strike, things seemed to be petering out in the final minute of injury time until all hell broke loose after some of the Lazio players stopped playing having mistakenly heard a whistle from the crowd. Undettered, Udinese attacker Roberto Pereyra drilled the ball sweetly into the empty net to ensure the points for the Zebrette.
This incensed the Biancocelesti though who felt the goal should not have stood due to the fact that many of their players had believed the game was finished and some players took it upon themselves to viciously verbally assault the referee and many of the Udinese players in an effort to make their feelings known.
Two of the culprits, goalkeeper Federico Marchetti and the colourful character that is Andre Dias, have since been banned for their part in the proceedings which also saw Lazio sporting director Igli Tare sprint from the stand onto the field to remonstrate with officials in a bizarre series of events.
Amauri finally becomes a Juventus hero
The moment that the title race changed hands and the pendulum swung the way of Juventus was down to one man. Amauri, unloved and unwanted by the Turin giants, eventually scored his most important Juve goal albeit for Fiorentina.
The title was effectively won by the Bianconeri on that April afternoon at San Siro when the Brazilian pounced to score his first goal for the Viola and will no doubt ensure his place in the hearts of Old Lady followers even if it is not for what he has done while in Turin.
Chinks were already starting to appear in the Rossoneri’s armour following the previous weekend’s draw away to Catania and they needed nothing less than a win if they were to keep themselves in pole position to secure their second successive Scudetto. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s penalty had put them ahead but Stevan Jovetic equalised in the closing stages before Amauri struck in the 89th minute to score a goal that Milan never quite recovered from.
You’re not worthy of wearing our shirts
The events of last month are now well known worldwide when Genoa took on fellow strugglers Siena in a game that both sides knew they had to win the crunch tie at the Marassi although only one side ever looked like they were going to win it. Siena were 4-0 up after 54 minutes when the Genoa ultras decided they had enough of what they were watching and stormed on to the field as flares and smoke bombs engulfed the air at the stadium with the fans determined to make their feelings known to the players.
Referee Paolo Tagliavento suspended the contest until the fans were cleared away but before they were they managed to barricade the entrance to the dressing rooms and demanded of captain Marco Rossi that the players shirts be taken from them and given to the ultras as they were no longer worthy of wearing the famous red and blue shirts.
Rossi shamefully obliged which saw Giandomenico Mesto break down into tears and also Giuseppe Sculli stand up to the fans by refusing to hand over the shirt that he “gives everything for” as media the world over had a field day reporting the surprising events.
Del Piero leaves as a legend should
Alessandro Del Piero has long been a faithful servant to Juventus and one of the greatest players in the club’s illustrious history. It had been apparent for much of this campaign that it would be his last for the Bianconeri and with the player receiving limited time on the field from manager Antonio Conte, many Juventini were left wondering if they would ever see one last classic ‘Del Piero moment’ in the Juventus colours.
They were to be obliged in March in the Derby d’Italia game against Inter when the player was brought on as a substitute late in the game with his side 1-0 up through a Martin Caceres header. What came next was a vintage moment that was to stand above many of the other fantastic memories that Juve fans will have of this season as the striker latched on to a sublime Arturo Vidal pass before keeping his cool to calmly stroke the ball past Cesar to give every Juventus one last moment of magic on the biggest stage of all to remember him by as he bowed out in his final season with a massive goal.
Sulley Muntari’s goal that never was
When Milan took on Juventus at San Siro in February it was supposed to be a game in which the top two sides battled it out to end all of the arguments and set one side on their way to being worthy Scudetto winners. What happened that night was quite the opposite and will be a regular talking point when the goal-line technology debate comes up in relation to Serie A for years to come as it was a decision that has likely cost Milan the championship.
The Rossoneri were leading the game 1-0 through an Antonio Nocerino effort when Gianluigi Buffon parried a Philippe Mexes header into the path of Muntari who guided the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net and although Buffon got back to claw the ball back out, the ball had clearly crossed the line by at least two ft. However, the goal was amazingly not given despite the linesman being in a perfect position to equalise.
Juventus went on to equalise and win the Scudetto and although they themselves had a goal incorrectly ruled out through Alessandro Matri, Milan fans have been left wondering ‘what if’ had they gone 2-0 up that night then maybe things would have been different. Adriano Galliani is certainly one of these people and he said he has the clip of the incident on his phone which he looks at every day to remind himself of the ‘stolen Scudetto.’
Rossi Balboa loses his cool
This may be a fairly recent incident having occurred just two weeks ago but Delio Rossi’s extraordinary attack on one of his own players will go down in history as one of the most bizarre moments in the history of Italian football. Which is some going when you consider some of calcio’s incidents down the years.
This moment relates to the game between Fiorentina and Novara when, with the Viola 2-0 down at home to an already-relegated side, manager Rossi decided to change things up after half an hour by bringing off Adem Ljajic.
The Serbian midfielder was none too impressed with his manager’s decision and had a few choice words for him upon being substituted and also responded with sarcastic applause towards his manager. Unfortunately for the youngster, Rossi was not in a mood to be disrespected and the red mist came down for the coach who launched himself at Ljajic and let off a tirade of punches in the player’s direction before eventually being seperated.
Unsuprisingly, Delio Rossi was relieved of his duties and given a three month ban afterwards.
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This article was originally posted on the FFC News Desk
